A
Federal High Court in Lagos has further adjourned till October 19, 2015 to hear
two separate suits seeking to quash the coroner’s verdict on the September 12,
2014 Synagogue Church Of All Nations building collapse.
The
suits were filed by the two structural engineers contracted by SCOAN to build
the collapsed six-storey building, Messrs Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela
Fatiregun.
Ogundeji
and Fatiregun had been indicted of criminal negligence by a coroner who
conducted an inquest into the deaths of the 116 persons who lost their lives in
the tragic incident.
The
coroner, Mr. Oyetade Komolafe, had recommended that the state should
investigate and prosecute them.
The
state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, had disclosed that his administration would
implement the coroner’s recommendations.
But
the engineers, through their lawyer, Mr. Olalekan Ojo, rejected the coroner’s
verdict and described it as “unreasonable, one-sided and biased.”
They
subsequently approached the court asking that the coroner’s verdict and
recommendations be invalidated and pronounced null and void.
They
urged the court to bar the Attorney General of the state or any officer acting
under his authority from initiating or commencing criminal proceedings against
the applicants on the basis of the findings and recommendations of the coroner.
They
also urged the court to declare that the Commissioner of Police in Lagos State
lacked the power to act on the coroner’s verdict to investigate or prosecute
them.
Justice
Mohammed Idris, who entertained separate ex parte applications by the engineers
during the court’s vacation, had on July 22, 2015 ordered that parties should
maintain the status quo pending the determination of the main suit.
The
case however came up on Wednesday before Justice Ibrahim Buba to whom it has
now been transferred.
At
the resumed proceedings, Ojo informed the court that though he had received a
counter-affidavit filed in opposition by theCouncil for the Regulation of
Engineering in Nigeria, his reply was filed out of time.
His
said his clients intended to pay the penalty sum, adding that he needed a short
stand-down to process the payment.
But
Buba said rather than stand the case down for a few minutes; he would be
adjourning till a further date to take all pending applications.
He
subsequently adjourned further proceedings till October 19, 2015.
The
pending applications include the preliminary objection filed by the state
challenging the court’s jurisdiction to entertain the case.
The
Solicitor General of the state, Mr. Lawal Pedro (SAN), is contending that since
the engineers were not agents of the Federal Government, the Federal High Court
lacked the jurisdiction to entertain their case.
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