Synagoge Building Collapse: Court Remands Two Engineers To Kirikiri

 

 Messrs Oladele Ogundeji and Mr. Akinbela Fatiregun,were remanded Yesterday to  the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons,for the collapsed of seven-storey guest house belonging to the Synagogue Church of All Nations, SCOAN By Justice.Abdulateef Lawal-Akapo of Lagos State High Court In Ikeja

The defendants  pleaded not guilty to a 111-count charge of gross negligence and criminal manslaughter alleged against them. The defendants and their companies, Hardrock Construction and Engineering Company and Jandy Trust Limited were also arraigned alongside the trustees of Synagogue Church of All Nation, SCOAN. 

 It would be recalled that Lagos State Government had filed its Information Papers since September, 2015 containing 111 count charges against the Synagogue Trustees and the two engineers that supervised the construction of the collapsed building and their respective company’s before the court

The defendants were arraigned for charges bordering on failure to obtain building approval contrary to Section 75 of the Urban and Regional Planning Law of Lagos State 2010, involuntary manslaughter causing death, contrary to Section 222 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011. 

The Prosecution led by Mrs Idowu Alakija, the Director, Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions, DPP, informed the court that the defendants committed the offences between August 20 and September 2013. She added that the defendants constructed a seven-storey building at the Synagogue Church of All Nations, SCOAN, Ikotun Egbe area of Ikeja, Lagos with “gross negligence and disregard for human life”. She added that the September 12, 2014 collapse of the guest house led to the death of about 116 persons, 85 of whom were South Africans.