Lagos State Government on Friday
opposed the no-case submission filed by the defendants in the case of the
collapsed Synagogue Church of All Nations’ (SCOAN) building.
The incident which occurred on
September 12, 2014, killed over 115 persons, 85 of whom were South Africans.
The defendants in the case are
the Registered Trustees of the SCOAN and the two engineers who built the
collapsed six-storey building.
The engineers, Messrs Oladele
Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun, were charged alongside their companies –
Hardrock Construction and Engineering Company and Jandy Trust Limited.
They are facing 110 counts of
involuntary manslaughter, while the Registered Trustees of SCOAN are facing one
count of building without approval.
Lagos State Directorate of Public
Prosecutions said the defendants violated Section 75 of the Urban and Regional
Planning Law of Lagos State 2010 as well as Section 222 of the Criminal Law of
Lagos State 2011.
They were arraigned on April 19,
2016, but they pleaded not guilty.
The state subsequently opened its
case, called witnesses and tendered documents to prove the allegations against
the defendants.
Upon the closure of the state’s
case in October, the defendants filed no-case submission, insisting that the
prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against them.
The defence counsel, Chief Lateef
Fagbemi (SAN), Chief Efe Akpofure (SAN), Mrs. Titi Akinlawon (SAN) and Mr.
Olalekan Ojo, urged the court to free them, saying there was nothing in the
evidence filed by the prosecution to warrant their client to proceed into any
defence.
At the resumed proceedings on
yesterday, the lead prosecuting counsel for Lagos government, Mr. Jide Martins,
said the state had yet to file its response to the defendant’s no-case
submission.
In his ruling, the judge
adjourned further proceedings till November 24.
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