by Mayowa Aboah
The Lagos State Government has said it won’t relent in its effort to unravel the cause of a 6-storey building collapse at the Synagogue Church of All Nation (SCOAN).
A 6-storey guest house in the premises of SCOAN collapsed on Friday, September 12, 2014; with a death doll of 80 reported so far.
In a statement, the Lagos State Government insisted that the General overseer of the church, Prophet TB Joshua, did not obtain approval for the building, therefore the addition of more floors to the existing two-storey building was illegal.
Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Olutoyin Ayinde, who expressed his condolences said that the Government and indeed the Ministry was particularly saddened that innocent lives were lost, and that the government is conducting a preliminary investigation into the cause(s) of the collapse and would leave nothing unturned to unravel what caused the building collapse.
Ayinde said a team of engineers from the Ministry and other state government agencies were taking samples from the foundation and materials from the wreckage of the building for detailed analysis.
He added that if there was any violation of relevant planning laws, government would take appropriate action but would not shut down the church until investigations were concluded.
Speaking on the claims made by the church concerning an unknown flight being the possible cause of the collapse, he said the Ministry had submitted the video clips, as provided by the Church to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) with the coordinate of the collapsed site for investigation and professional comment.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on the Environment, Tobun Abiodun, expressed belief that some government officials were influenced to have allowed the church construct the collapsed building illegally.
“But my concern is that we have town planning officers that should supervise buildings in the state, they are accomplices. There is no way someone would build a six-storey building instead of four and they would say they were not aware. I believe that they compromised standard.”
Quoting a report by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Tobun said that the building ought to have only four floors instead of six, according to the foundation of the house.
A man is just a man. A God remain mighty forever. This can happen only to whoever worth to deserve it. God would be with you. Amen.
A tym of tryal like ds can come to anyone, we should be careful of hw we speach against an annointed man of God or else we attract the anger of God to our selves. May the Lord help us nd oppen our spiritual eyes. Amen
if u all say d foundation waz faulty, den wat abt d other buildings which sum are 7 storey buildings,built by the same contractors/engineers,y don’t u ask ur sef diz question? y z it dat these other buildin did nt collapsed,which waz built 4 years(y only diz guest huz d jet waz hovering arund…..der z god oo
it z even recorded in the bible satan tempted jesus after his fasting,4 d fact dat tb joshua z a man of god does nt mean dat he won’t pass throw trails nd perseution…xo stp casgetting nd condeming the man of god,rem wat d bible says tuch nt ma prophet… .
God will punish all of u,hu r sayin dat the building waz illegal let me ask u all, a question?wat waz dat jet doin there several times
Tb JOSHUA has renowed his power with dead bodies.
nice move, well done lagos state government.
imagine the amount of people in search of miracles all the way from south africa. hiaan.
may their souls rest in perfect peace.
eeeya, i pity the man sha. the man has really tried in humanitarian services.
exactly, the building was illegal and they should be penalised.
All pastors in Nigeria are going through their trying times. issoari
this one one reason why i like lagos state government. dem no dey slack for issues like dis.
may the souls of the deceased rest in peace.
hehehehehehe. they should shut the church down sef, the man too dey lie lie
this man should stop saying it was an attack, we know quite well that it was the structure that caused it.
i still wonder why this man couldnt predict his own church collapsing