Collapsed Synagogue Church Guest House Had No Sign of Stress – Witness

Alex Olise/

A star witness, Architect by profession, has told Justice Lateef Lawal Akapo of the Lagos State high court that the Synagogue church guest house which collapsed a few years ago had no sign of stress, crack or diffraction before it went down.

The witness Mr Dayo Olatunbosun Fabiyi was being led in evidence at the resumed hearing of the matter by one of the lead counsel to Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Mr Olamilekan Ojo (SAN).

Fabiyi, who holds a first degree in Architecture and a Masters degree in environmental design all from the University of Lagos is also a volunteer worker and maintenance Engineer with the church.

As a volunteer maintenance engineer, Mr Fabiyi had the privilege of inspecting all the building in Synagogue church on a weekly basis including the collapsed guest house.

The witness told the court that he actually inspected the particular guest house between 8 am and 9 am on the fateful day it collapsed.

Another witness Mr Ebenezer Olumide Ologuntoye also insisted that the guest house did not collapse as a result of a foundational failure.

Ebenezer, a civil engineer, had earlier told the court that the building foundation passed a geotechnical test based on the investigation conducted at the site shortly after the building collapsed on September 12, 2014.

He made the position clear before the Court while he was being cross-examined by the lead counsel to Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Dr Babajide Martins, who was trying to use the opportunity to drag the witness with technical questions, but the civil engineer and geotechnical expert maintained his ground, adding that samples of the soil at the site were tested in two different places and the results favoured the church that the foundation was in order before the incident occurred.

According to him, similar work has been done by him on behalf of Lagos State government during the Lekki garden collapsed building case.

The third witness of the day was the current head of data management Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NMA), Mr Jimoh Olusegun, who tendered the true certified copy of the temperature of the year the incident occurred before the court and was accepted by all party.

The report includes a certificate of compliance. It also contained the maximum and minimum temperature from month to month in respect of Lagos State in the year 2014 when the incident occurred.

The defendants had argued that a strange aircraft flew over the building multiple times on September 12, 2014, before the building collapsed.

The Lagos State government had sued the church over the guest house that collapsed on September 12, 2014, which resulted in several deaths. The defendant’s appellants are facing a 110-count charge of involuntary manslaughter while the Registered Trustees of SCOAN were charged with one count of building without approval. 

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