Lagos govt. asks High Court to throw out suit filed by indicted structural engineers

oge okonkwo

August 4, 2015 2:22 PM

Lagos state government described the suit as “a gross abuse of court processes and should be dismissed.”

T.B. Joshua Synagogue Church

The Lagos State government has urged the Federal High Court to dismiss a suit filed by two structural engineers, seeking to cancel their indictment by the Coroner's court which sat for months investigating the the collapsed building belonging to the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN).

Leadership reports that the government through the state’s solicitor-general, Lawal Pedro (SAN), is challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by the engineers, Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun, seeking to stop the police from arresting or questioning them over the collapse of the building.

According to Pedro, the suit is “a gross abuse of court processes and should be dismissed.”

The Coroner’s Court presided over by Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe on July 8, had recommended that the church should also be prosecuted for failing to obtain necessary approval before embarking on the construction of the collapsed building that led to the deaths of the 116 persons, mostly foreigners.

Already, the Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, had directed relevant agencies to implement the verdict and that criminal charges be filed against the church and the two engineers.

Worried by the consequences of the directive, Ogundeji and Fatiregun, through their lawyer, Olalekan Ojo, are asking the court for protection claiming that their constitutional rights to dignity and personal liberty, enshrined in sections 34 and 35 of the constitution, were at stake as they could no longer move about freely.

They are also seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Lagos State attorney-general or any officer under his authority from initiating or commencing criminal proceedings against them on the basis of the coroner’s verdict that indicted them of criminal negligence.

oge okonkwo