‘Lagos’ll implement coroner’s verdict on Synagogue’

The Lagos State Ministry of Justice is still following up on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s promise to implement all the recommendations of the coroner’s inquest into the September 12, 2014 Synagogue Church Of All Nations’ building collapse, the ministry said on Wednesday.

The coroner, Mr. Oyetade Komolafe, among others things, recommended the investigation of the contractors of the collapsed six-storey building, Messrs Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun, for criminal negligence.

But the engineers, through their lawyer, Mr. Olalekan Ojo, rejected the coroner’s verdict and described it as “unreasonable, one-sided and biased.”

They are currently before a Federal High Court in Lagos, seeking the nullification of the coroner’s verdict.

Justice Ibrahim Buba has adjourned till October 19, 2015 to take all the pending applications in the case.

The engineers, in their suit, are urging the court to bar the Attorney General of Lagos State or any officer acting under his authority from initiating or commencing criminal proceedings against them 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.

Before the case was transferred to Justice Buba, Justice Mohammed Idris had on July 22, 2015 ordered all the parties to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the main suit.

But the state, through its Solicitor General, Mr. Lawal Pedro (SAN), had filed a preliminary objection to the suit, challenging the court’s jurisdiction and the competence of the suit.

Pedro argued that since the engineers were not agencies of the Federal Government, the Federal High Court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain their case.

He argued that as opposed to the engineers’ claim, the purpose of their suit was to challenge the coroner’s verdict and not for the enforcement of their fundamental human rights.

Pedro, who described the engineers’ suits as an abuse of court processes, added that they had not placed material facts before the court to prove their claim that their fundamental rights had been or were about to be violated.

He said the engineers had no valid case because the coroner did not issue a “judicial indictment” on them but only made recommendations that they should be investigated and if found culpable, prosecuted for criminal negligence.

He urged the court to countenance them and refuse the relief being sought by the engineers.