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Synagogue gets reprieve as court restrains Lagos from prosecuting engineers

Published

10 years ago

December 2, 2015

The Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday restrained the Lagos state government from prosecuting the two structural engineers indicted for the collapsed of the guest house belonging to the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) a temporary respite, as the court restrained the Lagos State Government from prosecuting them.

Justice Ibrahim Buba, who granted the injunction, held that the order will subsist until the engineers’ appeal against his earlier ruling is heard and determined by the Court of Appeal.

The judge had on November 9, 2015 dismissed a fundamental rights enforcement suit brought before him by the engineers, Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun, seeking to stop their arrest and prosecution over their indictment by the coroner inquest set up by the Lagos State Government to investigate the tragic incident that led to the death of 116 persons, including South Africans.

The judge dismissed the application on the ground that the engineers did not make a successful case that their rights were about to be infringed upon.

Apparently not satisfied with the decision, the men filed a Notice of Appeal before the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal and also an application seeking to stay execution of the ruling before Justice Buba.

In the application, the engineers urged the court to restrain the Commissioner of Police “from arresting, detaining the appellant/applicants for any reason whatsoever in connection with the verdict of the fourth respondent (Komolafe) dated 8th July, 2015 pending the determination of the appellant’s/applicant’s appeal against the ruling of the Federal High Court, Lagos Judicial Division, delivered by the Hon. Justice Ibrahim Buba on the 9th of November, 2015.”