President Goodluck Visits TB Joshua At Synagogue On Building Collapse Site

On the 12th of September, 2014, tragedy struck the members of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) when a six storey building under construction collapsed at the time of Friday worship trapping hundreds of  people inside leading to the death as of today 80 people including a 10-year old child and possibly including  67 South Africans and many critically injured.

President Jonathan during his trip to Lagos over the weekend, was at the scene of the building collapse in the early hours of Saturday before the PDP rally. He met with the enigmatic Pastor of the Church, Prophet T.B. Joshua and promised Nigerians that the Council of State will look into the issue. Just before the President’s visit, facts began to emerge that the building only had Lagos Government’s permits for 2 of the constructed floors and not for the additional 4 floors added to the building. Nigerians were left furious when reports started emerging that members of the church made no efforts to assist in the rescue efforts by the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) and that it was after the possible threat of closure from the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola during his visit to the scene  that the rescue workers were allowed to work searching for  survivals.

Despite the intensity of the incident, the Church and its Leadership kept quiet and refused to comment on the incident or give  succour to  people that lost friends and families in  the building collapse.

Last week,  the Lagos State Government started an inquiry into the building collapse. 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, confirmed that they asked the church to provide documents that would aid them during the inquiry, 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.”

Now there are fresh reports that the Church Leadership and the Engineers involved in the construction might be convicted and may face possible jail term if they are found guilty of using sub-standard materials in the construction of the extra floors and not forgetting the fact that those extra floors without building permit.

So the question is, what awaits the Leadership of the Church? Can they recover from this incident?

Will Nigerians ever forgive him for his stoic response during this incidence  when they needed assurance or understanding?