Following investigations, an inquest was on Wednesday, November 5, 2014, told that the followers of the Senior Prophet of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet Temitope B. Joshua, had launched an attack on emergency service workers which made it impossible for them to access the site of the collapsed building which occurred at the premises of the church on Friday, September 12, 2014.
The head of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Femi Oke-Osanyintolu said, “The first three days (after the collapse) were marred by the so-called church sympathisers and the crowd. By the time we attained momentum after 96 hours a lot of things had gone bad.”
About 116 reportedly died after the tragic experience out of which 84 were South Africa compatriots.
Joshua failed to show up at the court to give evidence despite summons by the coroner.
According to Vanguard reports, Osanyintolu told the hearing that it was only after the intervention of the Lagos State governor that rescue workers could get to the site of the disaster on the sprawling SCOAN compound.
He further recalled that “no effective crowd control” measures were taken after the incident which made the situation get out of hand leading to the death of more people than expected.
He also said, “The crowd impeded our operation. They did not allow our personnel and equipment to come in. They frustrated the emergency workers at the scene.”
“Instead of allowing trained rescue workers with specialist equipment to search for survivors, only church members and volunteers were allowed to pick through the rubble.”
Continuing, Osanyintolu, who is a medical doctor said, “There were restrictions of emergency responders to the scene of the collapse. On the first day, we were assaulted, especially my humble self.”
“We were not allowed to do documentation. Photographs of the incident were not allowed.
“We asked for the manifest to know the number and identities of the people in the building, we were not given. We asked for the building plan, we were not given.”
Meanwhile,during the hearing in the court, expert witnesses faulted the claims of an aircraft being responsible for an attack as acclaimed by the church management.
The LASEMA boss further debunked the theory: “On observation, bodies were not mutilated. They were not disjointed… the bodies were not burned.”
During the hearing also, it was revealed in that the expansion project going on at the collapsed building were done without due permission from the necessary authorities.
