Prophet Temitope Joshua, General Overseer, Synagogue Church of All Nations has been indicted by Lagos State Government over the collapse of a 6-storey guest house in his church.
Death toll in the tragedy which occurred last Friday has hit 80 as rescue workers intensify efforts to evacuate the remaining victims trapped under the rubble. There is likely no hope of any more survivors.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Lagos State Government insisted that Joshua did not have approval for the building, therefore the addition of more floors to the existing two-storey building was illegal.
The government, however, said investigations were still on as to why the building collapsed.
Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Olutoyin Ayinde said government would not shut down the church until investigations were concluded.
Ayinde expressed sincere condolences and sympathy with those that lost their loved ones and those that were injured in the unfortunate incident.
He said the Government and indeed the Ministry was particularly saddened that innocent lives were lost.
The Commissioner clarified that no plans were in the offing to take over the collapsed structure site until thorough and detailed investigation as to the cause(s) of the collapse had been concluded.
According to him, government is conducting a preliminary investigation into the cause(s) of the collapse and would leave nothing to chance to unravel what cause the building to collapse.
He added that if there was any violation of relevant planning laws, government would take appropriate action.
To this end, Ayinde said a team of engineers from the Ministry and other state government agencies were taking samples from the foundation and materials from the wreckage of the building for detailed analysis.
He stressed that government does not arbitrarily take over properties when testing to ascertain the structural integrity of any building that collapses.
On the veracity of the “Strange Plane Theory,” alleged to have dangerously flown low over the building 50 minutes before the collapse, he said the Ministry had submitted the video clips, as provided by the Church to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) with the coordinate of the collapsed site for investigation and professional comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment
whizqidconcept@gmail.com