Saturday, October 25, 2014 7:15 am
Pastor T.B. Joshua’s theory that a low-flying plane crashed his Synagogue Church’s guesthouse on 12 September had been thrashed by a witness in Lagos, who said there was no sign of foul play at the site of the tragedy.
Giving evidence at the Coroner Inquest in Lagos, Lagos State firefighter Olayinka Adebayo told the hearing that his initial assessment on the day did not suggest foul play.
The collapsed building in the Synagogue
“There was no evidence of the use of explosives based on the number of those rescued from the site,” he told the court.
“Although some of them (the victims) had some injuries, they were not that serious. Even those that died still had their bodies intact.”
If the building had been bombed, the bodies would have been badly mutilated, he added.
Komolafe ordered Joshua’s Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) to supply the court with a list of everyone in the guesthouse at the time.
That would help in the identification process, which is not yet complete, and allow for the bodies to be repatriated and funerals to take place, he said.
Some 350 South Africans were thought to be visiting the church at the time of the tragedy. And 86 of them died in the tragedy.
But there were claims that more lives could have been saved if church officials had not blocked access to rescue workers for three days.
Meanwhile, the coroner has ordered Joshua to appear at the Inquest on 5 November.
TB Joshua:, owner of the building summoned to appear on 5 November
TB Joshua’s lawyer, Jude Nnadi, had argued at the hearing that his client would not be able to come in person “because he was not an eye-witness” to the September 12 tragedy that claimed at least 115 lives.
But coroner Oyetade Komolafe summoned the popular televangelist, known to his followers as “The Prophet”, to appear on November 5 because his evidence was crucial.
“We are not excusing Prophet Joshua. You, as his counsel, should advise him to come,” the coroner told Nnadi.
“He has to come and tell us what he knows. He cannot sit over there and be sending words. That is not acceptable.”
Joshua, a self-styled miracle worker who claims he can see the future and counts presidents among his followers, has previously claimed the building collapsed because of sabotage.
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3 Comments
Lives lost are as much important as those who are still alive. Frustrations, pains etc. brought them to SCOAN does not mean they were not important but it was a trust in the SCOAN that their circumstances will change.
I urge you to be a responsible person when protecting someone. I hope your mind will begin to function well and value fellow humans. Do not be a blind follower but use your God given gift which is the brain to use it accordingly.
it is a shame to protect matters which will be tested by the court of law. the advocacy of the SCOAN just wait or present yourself to testify in the law court.
Mr fireman(olayinka adebayo),I am ashamed of you and your 34years of service.as a rescue officer there are basic rules to apply in crime scene.firstly to secure the crime scene to avoid destruction of evidence,which from your utterances you are ignorant of as unqualified officer.you rushed to scene using street boys as your rescue workers.where are your sniffer dogs to pin point to you the location of life.you went about the collapsed building with heavy equipments trampling everything thereby even killing some that otherwise could have been saved.
Secondly,you claim to have worked for 34years,where were you trained.how often do you have rescue drills,because from your utterance you sound like one of these fat cows sitting around doing nothing.when and where did you do your recent rescue operation.as a professional you suppose to know the difference between collapsed building and demolished building.
Scoan did not collapse,it was brought down by dynamite.dynamite is a kind of explosive used in building demolishion.it is different from car bomb.there many types of bomb.dynamite is detonated by remote control.in the case of scoan,the flight that flew over was when they are trying to detonate it with remote controll.the tried three times and on fourth fly over got it right.the flight did not collapse the building but was used to detonate the dynamite by remote controll.
Mr fireman,if after your years of service you don’t get this,then you are a fool or maybe you are part of them.
Finaly,how many years are you to be civil service,not 32years.i guess your retirement is past gone.we need new bloods with vigor