Posted on: 10:33 Fri, 17 Jul 2015



The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, says he will enforce the
verdict of the coroner’s inquest on the
September 12, 2014 Synagogue Church building collapse.

The governor in a statement by his
Chief Press Secretary, Habib Aruna,
on Thursday, said his government
would uphold and enforce the
sanctity of the law in the state, urging
residents of the state to also respect
the rule of law.

Ambode said, “The coroner’s verdict
of July 7, 2015, made a number of
recommendations which the state
government would act upon
accordingly.

“One of the provisions of the Coroner
Law, 2007, is the provision that
empowers a coroner to commence an
inquest to find out the cause and
manner of death which occur in an
unusual manner.”

The governor added that consequent
upon the collapse building on the
premises of the Synagogue Church of
All Nations, the state government
applied that a coroner’s inquest be
commenced into the cause of the
tragic deaths.

He said, “Therefore, the Lagos State
Government will cause the
prosecution of the contractor,
Akinbela Fatiregun of Hardrock
Engineering Company Limited; and
the Structural Engineer, Oladele
Ogundeji, who constructed and
supervised the collapsed building,
respectively, at the Synagogue Church of All Nations for professional
negligence.”

The governor added that the
government would also prosecute
SCOAN for neglecting to obtain
building approval before commencing
the construction of the building,
contrary to the provisions of the
Urban and Regional Planning and
Development Law, 2010.

He appealed to residents of the state to always allow emergency responders to
perform their duties during
emergencies as they were trained for
the purpose.

“Also, land owners within the state,
who intend to embark on
construction, should employ the
services of qualified engineers who
must obtain building permit before
construction,” the governor added.