Building collapse: Lagos Won’t Prosecute Synagogue Church for “Criminal Negligence”

The Lagos State government has chosen not to prosecute the Synagogue Church of All Nations for criminal negligence as recommended by a coroner’s court which investigated the September 12, 2014 collapse of the church’s guest house.
The crash killed 116 people.

A statement released by Habib Aruna, the chief press secretary to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, on Thursday, said the church will only be prosecuted for failure to obtain requisite permit before converting the originally two-storey building, to a six-storey structure.
Last week, the coroner, Oyetade Komolafe, after listening to several testimonies during the inquest that lasted 10 months, indicted the church and the building’s engineers, and said they be prosecuted for criminal negligence.
“The church was culpable because of criminal negligence resulting in the death of the victims,” Mr. Komolafe said, while reading the verdict of the inquest. “Structural failure due to the combination of designs and detailing errors caused the building to collapse.”
However, in an obvious selective application of the coroner’s recommendations, Mr. Ambode said only the engineers will be prosecuted for criminal negligence.
“Will cause the prosecution of the contractor, Engineer Akinbela Fatiregun of Hardrock Engineering Company Limited and Structural Engineer, Oladele Ogundeji, who constructed and supervised the collapsed building respectively at the Synagogue Church of All Nations for professional negligence,” Mr. Ambode said.

If charged as stated by the state government, the church may only be required to pay a paltry fine if found guilty for not obtaining the requisite building permit. The engineers however are likely to be sent to prison.