Henry Ojelu

A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, western Nigeria, on Monday slammed a fine on the Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) and its founder, Prophet Temitope Joshua, for delaying further hearing of its suit against a Lagos State Coroner, Mr Oyetade Komolafe.

Justice Lateefat Okunnu awarded the N25,000 cost against the church for “ wasting the time of the court and tax payers’ money.”

TB Joshua: fined for stalling case

Joshua and his church had instituted the suit against the coroner and the Lagos State Government asking for a judicial review of the ongoing inquest into the 12 September, 2014 collapse of its guest house that killed 116 worshippers.

They had asked the court to declare that the coroner had exceeded the jurisdiction of a coroner’s court by delving into areas that were beyond its scope.

At the resumption of hearing Tuesday, their counsel, Chief Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), told the court that he had filed two fresh applications relating to the suit.

“We filed two processes yesterday (Monday, 16 February). One is a motion and the other one is the applicants’ consolidated Reply on Points of Law,” he said.

Responding, counsel to the respondents, Mr Karmardeen Bakare, said the processes were served on his team in court and he needed time to prepare his reply.

He, therefore, urged the court for an adjournment to enable him examine the applications.

Following the development, the judge said it was clear that the day’s proceedings could not go on as scheduled.

Okunnu observed that the suit had been adjourned several times at the request of the applicants.

She, therefore, awarded the N25,000 cost against them, adding that they should file an affidavit of compliance before the next adjourneddate fixed for 20 February.