Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, visited the scene and expressed sadness at the loss of lives even as he described the incident as very unfortunate. While commiserating with the General Overseer of the Church, Prophet Joshua, the governor failed to specify the action his government would take to punish the church if it was proven that it did not obtain approval before erecting four more storeys to the existing two floors.

The governor was aghast when he saw the large number of staff crowding around the rescuers, obstructing their efforts and ordered them to stay away. “What you need to understand now is that this place is now an accident scene and so all your staff must leave this place. We need to take control of this place and let people who are trained to do this job to do so. We understand that this is an unfortunate incident; we understand their sense of sympathy and compassion. But let them allow those who are trained to do the job, take over and do the job; that is their training and it won’t make sense if they are getting in each other’s way,” he said.

Joshua is popular for correctly predicting several future occurrences. He predicted the victory of the late John Atta Mills in Ghana’s presidential election and it came to pass. He predicted the missing of the Malaysia Aircraft in 2013, which came to pass early this year. He also predicted the death of Malawi President, Binguwa Mutharika, in 2012 and it came to pass. Joshua even predicted the crash last year of the plane used in conveying the late Olusegun Agagu’s body to his home town.

In 2006, Joshua predicted that Nigeria would not qualify for the 2006 World Cup, which came to pass. The same man predicted that the Super Eagles would win the last African Nations Cup and Nigeria won; and several other predictions that came to reality. The precision in Joshua’s prophecy and healing prowess endeared him to many. The Synagogue Church attracts a global following of Christians who believe Joshua is able to perform miracles, including curing the ill and raising the dead.

But the question many people are asking is, why was Joshua unable to foresee the collapse of the uncompleted guest house in his church, which claimed over 80 lives. Why did his prowess in prophecy not come to bear on knowing the tragedy that awaited him and his church on that fateful day?

A resident of Agbado area of Lagos, Tosin Ogo-Oluwa, said he believed Joshua was a man of God, noting that: “For him not to see his own predicament is somehow mysterious; but mystery itself is something that is better left to God. It is an unfortunate incident which has claimed lives. Let us accept that it is an act of God.”

Thomas Oriloye said the tragedy that befell Joshua would certainly affect his image as he is an international figure. He dismissed Joshua’s claim that it was sabotage, but noted that as a man of God who had in the past predicted events which came to pass, one expected that he would have seen the so-called attack on his church in a vision. Also, Yinus Bolaji said what happened would surely diminish Joshua’s reputation as somebody who could prophesy and see the future. “I still find it hard to believe why somebody who has prophesied great things with precision was not able to see the doom and tragedy coming to his church. Ascribing it to a bomb attack is laughable,” he said.

General Manager, LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, when asked whether the government would confiscate the property of Synagogue due to the collapse, was very evasive, saying that it was too early to comment on that as saving lives was more important to the government now. But stakeholders in the built industry have been calling for a thorough probe of the Synagogue tragedy, as it was believed that no approval was sought before more floors were added to the building that collapsed.