The arraignment of Registered Trustees of Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) and four others over the September 12, 2014 building collapse, which claimed 116 lives, was yesterday adjourned till December 11.

The Senior Pastor of the church, Prophet T.B Joshua, is one of the trustees.
Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo of an Ikeja High Court adjourned the case due to the absence of four out of the five defendants in court on Monday.

The defendants are the Registered Trustees of Synagogue Church of All Nation (SCOAN), Hardrock Construction and Engineering Company, Jadny Trust Limited, Messrs Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun.

Lagos State Government had filed charges against them following the July 8 judgment of the Coroner’s Inquest, which indicted the church and its engineers over the building collapse.

At the proceedings on Monday, the judge observed that the second, third, fourth and fifth defendants were not in court to take their pleas.
The prosecuting counsel and Lagos State Attorney- General, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, told the court that some of them were yet to be served.
“We confirmed that Synagogue Trustees and the Hardrock Construction Company have been served.
“The other defendants in the matter could not be served because their addresses are not valid,” Kazeem said.
Counsel to the first and second defendants, Mr. Oluseun Abimbola, said the defendants were absent because of the non-service of the charge by the prosecution.

He said: “The state cannot say that they do not have valid addresses because they were served in previous proceedings.
“The engineers, Ogundeji and Fatiregun, were even arrested by the Police and charged before a magistrate court where they were later released on bail.”

After listening to both counsel, Akapo advised the defence counsel to remind the defendants that the matter was a criminal one which was sensitive.
“Service in any proceeding is fundamental and anything done outside of this is a nullity.
“The defence counsel is hereby directed to oblige the prosecution team with valid addresses of the third, fourth and fifth defendants within 72 hours,” Akapo said.

The Coroner’s Inquest set up by Lagos State and presided over by Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, had in its verdict of August 7, 2015 ruled that the Synagogue Church and its contractors were essentially negligent in the fatal collapsed of the six-storey building within the church premises.

Sequel to the Coroner’s verdict, the engineers, Mr. Oladele Ogundeji and Mr. Akinbela Fatiregun (4th and 5th defendants in the suit) had filed two separate suits before Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, prayed for an order restraining the police from inviting, arresting or prosecuting them over the victims’ death.

The engineers had rejected the coroner’s verdict, describing it as “unreasonable, one-sided and biased.”
They had claimed that the Nigeria Police, Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN) and the Lagos State Government (Respondents) would act upon the Coroner’s findings by proceeding to arrest, investigate and/or prosecute them for criminal negligence.