Pastor Temitope Balogun (TB) Joshua and trustees of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) have lost in their bid to stop the coroner’s inquest into the collapse of a building belonging to the church.
A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja on Friday dismissed an application filed by Joshua and the trustees, asking the court to halt the ongoing inquest into the collapsed guest house.
Trial judge, Justice Lateefa Okunnu, dismissed the application for being premature and lacking in merit.
The Lagos State Government had set up the inquest to unravel the causes of the collapse building.
A total of about 115 persons, including 85 South Africans, died in the tragedy which occurred on September 12, 2014.
The applicants had dragged the coroner’s court and the Presiding Coroner, Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, before the High Court, asking for a judicial review of the proceedings.
The applicants had based their application on three grounds.
Speaking through their counsel, Chief Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), they had asked the court to determine whether the witness summons served on Joshua to appear before the coroner did not constitute an infringement on his right to fair hearing.
Fagbemi had also asked the court to declare that the coroner exceeded the jurisdiction of a coroner’s court by delving into areas that were beyond its scope.
In addition, the coroner, Chief Magistrate Komolafe, was also accused of being bias and demonstrating a personal interest in the matter.
The respondent’s counsel, Mr Akinjide Bakare, however, urged the court to dismiss the application.
Bakare argued that the coroner had extensive powers to investigate the cause and circumstances of death and report to the appropriate authorities.
He said in order to determine the cause of death, the coroner has the latitude to summon any witness and investigate issues pertaining to building approval, soil testing and materials used in the construction of the collapsed building.
Justice Okunnu, while delivering her ruling, held that although the coroner’s court cannot be sued, Chief Magistrate Komolafe can be sued in his capacity as a coroner.
According to her, the court needed to resolve the issue whether the coroner has acted contrary to the rules of natural justice by not granting the applicants a fair hearing and whether he had exceeded the scope of a coroner’s court.
Justice Okunnu held that Sections 26 and 27 of the Coroner’s System Law of Lagos State 2007 empower the coroner to summon any witness to assist him in his fact-finding mission.
She held that there was nothing unusual in the summons extended to Joshua.
The judge said there was no evidence before the court that the coroner had been biased against the applicant and therefore declined to grant the prayers of the applicants.
She also held that Chief Magistrate Komolafe had not reached his conclusions in the matter.
She, however, emphasised that being a coroner, he had the prerogative to take evidence from any witness he deemed relevant to any matter at hand.
“I find therefore that the present application lacks merit and has failed in its entirety. It is accordingly dismissed,” Okunnu said.
Meanwhile, at the resumption on the inquest on Friday, a structural engineer and consultant to the Lagos State Material Testing Agency, Saheed Ariyori, continued with his testimony in the matter.
Ariyori told the coroner’s court that he was not a professional in sub-soil investigations.
Speaking while being cross-examined by counsel to SCOAN, Olalekan Ojo, the witness further confirmed that he did not participate in the generation of the sub-soil investigation report already tendered before the court.
According to him, “We did integrity test on the rubbles that collapsed. The report showed that the concrete used on the collapsed building was good.
“Our investigation report did not show that there were signs of stress on the foundation of the collapsed building.
Besides, Ariyori confirmed that there were errors in his calculations made before the court on March 4, 2015.
Further hearing on the inquest has been adjourned till March 12, 2015.
