The Lagos State Coroner investigating the
cause of the collapse of a six-storey building
at the Synagogue Church of All Nations
(SCOAN), Ikotun, has directed the church to
give the state’s pathologist a copy of the
manifest of the people inside the building
when it caved in.
Coroner Oyetade Komolafe gave the directive
at the church during a visit to the scene,
following the inavailability of a list containing
the names of victims and survivors of the
September 12 mishap. No fewer than 115
bodies, mostly South Africans, were recovered
from the debris of the building with 131
persons reportedly rescued alive.
TheNation reports that however, there was a
disagreement as to whether or not the
pathologist needs the list to do his job, with
the church’s lawyer, Prince Lateef Fagbemi,
stating that DNA samples had been taken over
two weeks ago.
He insisted that the church would obey the
court’s request for manifest “when we get to
the bridge”.
But Komolafe insisted that the manifest must
be handed over to the Chief Pathologist, Prof.
John Obafunwa, without delay.
The coroner said:
“One of the things
we will be asking for
is the manifest of
people occupying the
building before the
incident. We have
read from the media
that some of the
artisans working on
the building were
from Togo. We need
names of everybody
that was in the
premises, both
residents and
workers. Without
these names, bodies
will not be released
to their relatives and
that will mean
unclaimed or
unknown bodies,
hence, they will be
given mass burial.
Let us not go into all
this (argument). Give
the CMO the
manifest. They need
it and it is something
that should not be
postponed. As I said
before, see it as it is.
Nobody is on trial or
being persecuted. We
have to know what
happened to avert
future occurrence.”
While inspecting the collapse site as well as
the CCTV cameras that captured the footages
backing the church’s claim of “terrorist
attack”, the Coroner requested to see the
contractor, but was told he was not available.
Consequently, he asked the church to make
available the details of the contractor since it
hired him, so that the court could reach him.
Although the church tried to object to the
directive, the Coroner insisted that no body
would be released without proper
identification. Fagbemi, arguing for the
church, said:
“With respect sir, I think the issue of
identification will not need blood
samples if the families can come and
identify their relations. DNA samples
have been submitted to the Chief Medical
Officer (CMO) over two weeks ago. I do
not know what they have done with that.
The families involved submitted samples,
which were handed over to the state.
The manifest is not needed now, when
we get to that bridge, we will cross it.
Nobody is picking holes in what youý are
doing but we are only saying that we
submitted something a long time ago.
With this directive which your Lordship
has given, we will comply when we get
to that bridge.”
Explaining the need for the manifest,
Obafunwa said the demand was to enable
them match bodies with names for effective
DNA result. He publicly delivered a request
letter to the church, which was received and
acknowledged by SCOAN’s Chief Security
Officer (CSO), Sunday Okojie.
The CSO, who took the delegation round the
premises, disclosed that the CCTV cameras
that got the footages were “cameras three and
six”. He explained that the collapsed building
did not affect any other structure.
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