A prosecution witness, Oreoluwa Fadayomi, in the ongoing trial of the Registered Trustees of the Synagogue Church of All Nations and the two engineers that constructed the collapsed building belonging to the church, yesterday told a Lagos High Court in Ikeja that the guest house collapsed due to structural defects.
Fadayomi, Structural Engineer, who is the seventh witness in the trial, told the court that the building did not have rigid strong points at the two ends of the structure and that the reinforcement was lower than what is expected of a robust structure like the church’s guest house.
The Lagos State government is prosecuting the Registered Trustees of the church, the two engineer, Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun, their companies, Hardrock Construction and Engineering Company and Jandy Trust Limited on a 111 count charges of criminal negligence, manslaughter and failure to obtain building permit.
It would be recalled that the collapsed building had killed 116 worshippers who had lodged at the guest house belonging to SCOAN.
Fadayomi, who was led in evidence by lawyer to the state government, Miss T.K. Shitta-Bey, informed the judge that two of the columns were under reinforced and that all the ground columns were slender.
The witness further testified, “My lord, based on the investigation myself and my team members conducted, it was revealed that the structural system of the collapsed building was inadequate.
“The design of the building also aided the collapse since what was obtained in the design drawing was different from what we saw at the collapsed site.”
After Fadayomi’s testimony, lead counsel for the defence, Chief Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) requested for an adjournment to enable the defence prepare for cross-examination of the witness.
The trial judge, Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo then adjourned the case till April 20 for continuation of trial.
