Metro
BUILDING COLLAPSE: There’s no case to answer, T.B Joshua tells court
A no-case application was filed before an Ikeja High Court by the Registered Trustees of Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) and other defendants in the ongoing trial of the collapsed six-storey guest house belonging to the church.
Facing a 111-count charge of gross negligence and criminal manslaughter preferred against them by Lagos State Government, the trustees of the church and the two engineers who built the collapsed building– Akinbela Fatiregun and Oladele Ogundeji alongside their companies – Hardrock Construction and Engineering Company, Jandy Trust Limited, pleaded not guilty.
Temitope Joshua is the senior pastor and founder of the church.
The Trustees all appeared before Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo over the September 12, 2014, six-storey building collapse which led to the death of 116 persons, 85 of who were South Africans.
Read also: Ex-Air Force chief Amosu gets more bad news as surety abandons him in fraud case
The defendants, who were supposed to open their defence following the prosecution closing its case, told the court that having gone through the evidence submitted by the prosecution, it was clear that they did not have any case to answer.
The prosecution led by Ms P.K. Shitta-Bey, the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), had in July closed its case and told the court that the defence team had finished the cross-examination of the eight witnesses in the case.
“We will like to inform the court that this is the end of the prosecution’s case,” Shitta-Bey had told the court after the defence team finished cross-examining the eight and last prosecution witness.
However, Justice Lawal-Akapo, after listening to the plaintiff and defendants adjourned the case for further hearing till November 3, 2017 and for the adoption of written addresses by the defence counsel.
RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears
Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...