#SCOAN Collapse: Lagos begins probe October 13

The Lagos State Government has said the coroner it inaugurated to probe the circumstances surrounding the collapse of a six-storey building belonging to the Synagogue Church of All of Nations will commence sitting on October 13, 2014.

This was contained in a statement released by the Lagos State Ministry of Justice on Friday.

According to the statement, the coroner’s hearing will take place at the Coroner Court on the premises of the Ikeja Lagos State High Court. The coroner, to be headed by Magistrate O.A. Komolafe, is set up to determine the cause of the September 12, 2014 SCOAN building collapse that claimed no fewer than 115 lives.

On the coroner’s witness list are the:

•  Lagos State Building Control Agency,
• the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development,
• the Lagos State Ministry of Works,
• the Surveyor-General of the state,
• the SCOAN building contractors,
• the Standard Organisation of Nigeria and
• the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism.

Also to testify are:

•  the National Emergency Management Agency,
• the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency,
• the Nigerian Red Cross Society,
• the Lagos State Fire Service and
• the Lagos State Transport Management Authority.

Others are:

•  the Nigerian Police Force,
•  the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps,
• the Chief Medical Director of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital,
• the Chief Medical Examiner of the state and
• officials of the Emergency Centre of the Igando General Hospital, Lagos State.

Various print and electronic media houses such as The PUNCH, The Nation, Daily Independent, The Vanguard, P.M. News, the News Agency of Nigeria, Channels Television and Television Continental are also expected to testify before the coroner of inquest.

The General Overseer and founder of SCOAN, Pastor T. B. Joshua, families of the victims, an eyewitness, Lindiw Ndwande and the chairman of the Youth League’s International Relation Committee of South Africa, Mr. Rebone Tau, have also been listed as witnesses.

“Other members of the public who may have any information useful to the coroner and wish to give evidence or tender any material that will assist the court in its findings are also enjoined to indicate their interest by contacting the registrar at the Coroner’s Court, High Court premises, Ikeja, Lagos State between the hours of 8am and 4pm daily,” the statement said.

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