Synagogue Building Collapse: Lagos Govt Moves against T. B Joshua

The Lagos State Government has moved against the popular Synagogue Church of All Nations, Ikotun, after one of its buildings collapsed last week killing over 70 people including a 10-year-old kid with many others critically injured.

The structure, which was under construction, was initially a two-storey building before the addition of four new floors which were under construction. As of Thursday, after NEMA announced that rescue work has ended, the death toll in the building collapse hit 80. Among the dead were 67 South Africans.

According to Punch, the Lagos State Building Control Agency has, therefore, marked the main building of the church, asking for relevant documents to prove its structural integrity.



The General Manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency, Mrs. Abimbola Animashaun-Odunayo, who confirmed that the building had been marked by the agency in a phone interview with Saturday PUNCH, said it had requested that the church provides some documents, adding that a structural integrity test would be carried out on all the buildings in the church complex.

She said:

    “X’ (the mark on the building) does not mean demolition; it is for structural integrity test to be carried out on the building and the church is expected to provide all the documents for approval and the church has three months to do this.”

Asked if the building would be demolished in case the church failed to meet the requirements within the time frame, Animashaun-Odunayo declined to make further comments.

    “Look, it is still under investigation; I can’t say more than that. I don’t even know who I am talking with on the phone,” she said.

Meanwhile, diplomatic tensions between South Africa and Nigeria have escalated as the SA government struggles to get answers about the building collapse that killed the largest number of South Africans outside the country since the downing of the Helderberg airliner in 1987.

Pretoria’s diplomats are reportedly contending that “Nigeria is obsessed with its competitive attitude towards South Africa”. Here's what a disgusted senior South African government official involved in the mission to bring the bodies of their citizens home said to Mail & Guardian:

    “The Nigerians have flatly refused our search and rescue missions, the same way they initially refused international assistance during the search for the missing girls. They feel that this could send a politically worrying message that they don’t have capacity. 

The reality is that our search and rescue teams and sniffer dogs are the best on the continent.   

 Making matters worse is Nigeria’s culture of secrecy and superstition. You find even government officials believing in the cult of this prophet and not asking questions during such disasters. It’s unbelievable. But there is also an element of cover-up by [preacher TB] Joshua, because there is a possibility of litigation cases against him for negligence.
    The worst thing to note [is that] the Nigerian government has not issued any statement: no condolences to our government, nor to the families.” 

SA's Department of international relations and co-operation spokesperson Clayson Monyela confirmed that South Africa has identified most of the bodies through passports, and that the government will work with family members to identify the remains of their loved ones.