An expert in explosives and weapons, Mr Biedomo Iguniwei, yesterday, said the collapsed building of Synagogue Church of All Nations, SCOAN, was caused by a high energy infrasonic weapon.
Iguniwei, former research scientist in weapons production with the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria, Kaduna, made the remark while testifying before the coroner’s court investigating the incident.
One hundred and sixteen persons were killed in the collapse of the six-storey building on September 12.
Scientific analysis
Iguniwei said he was instructed by the church to carry out scientific analysis of the materials from the scene, to ascertain the possibility of the collapse being caused by deployment of infrasonic weapon.
The witness said an infrasonic weapon was a low sonic radiation used as a weapon to cause structural damage and destruction to objects.
According to him, he interviewed two of the survivors and also analysed the CCTV footage of the incident before arriving at his conclusion.
Plane-like object
He said the “plane-like object” that flew over the church fired an infrasonic weapon that made the building crumble.
“An infrasonic weapon can be fired or deployed from any flying object or from a location within a distance of between one hundred metres and 1,000 metres away from the intended target.
“This infrasonic weapon employs vibration to induce high density destructive resonance in the building leading to a near perfect vertical crumbling experience.
“I bring to bear my experience in arriving at this conclusion that the building collapsed as a result of uniform destruction due to the infrasonic pulse fired unto the building”, Iguniwei said.
He cited the destruction of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington in 1940 as one of the cases where an infrasonic weapon was deployed.
The witness told the court that the technology was not visible to human eyes as radiation does not generate heat or lead to burning as in the case of bombs.
“The bomb expert who is looking for chemical residue will not see anything like a by-product.
“Of course, there is no charring because all that the radiation does is to cause a vibration of the atoms from their position resulting in the emission of electrons.
“Engineers generally believe that a structure would fail due to bad foundation and materials, but if you go there now, the foundation pillars are still very intact.
“My position is that the building weakened from the top”, Iguniwei added.
Research on incident
Following the testimony, the Coroner, Mr Oyetade Komolafe, directed him to submit his research on the incident to the court on January 5, 2015.
Also testifying, Mr Sunday Okojie, the Chief Security Officer of SCOAN, said church members swung into action immediately the building collapsed.
Okojie debunked the claims by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, and National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, that their officials were assaulted.
He said both agencies came to the scene without an ambulance, adding that the church provided 11 ambulances while the Nigerian Red Cross Society and Life Savers provided one each.
The matter was adjourned till December 23 for further hearing.
Meanwhile, Justice Lateefa Okunnu of an Ikeja High Court has adjourned the hearing of another suit filed by the founder of the church, Prophet Temitope Joshua, against the coroner till Jan. 12, 2015.
The judge adjourned the matter to give respondents (the Lagos State Government) time to respond to a further affidavit filed by Joshua’s counsel, Chief Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.
In the originating summons designated ID/188MJR/2014, Joshua is asking the court for a judicial review of the proceedings before the coroner’s inquest.
He asked the court to declare the coroner’s summons on him to personally appear before the inquest as unconstitutional and a breach of his right to fair hearing.
The cleric also asked for an order restraining the coroner from taking evidence on the issues of approval and construction of the collapsed building.
According to him, these issues are clearly outside the scope and jurisdiction of the coroner’s court.
Joshua also asked for an order restraining Komolafe from continuing with the inquest “having demonstrated personal interest in the subject matter and his neutrality clearly compromised.”
