A federal high court sitting in Lagos has dismissed a suit filed by a lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje, seeking to halt the ongoing coroner’s inquest into the collapse of a six-storeyed building within the premises of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN).
Ogungbeje had filed the suit complaining of alleged breach of fundamental rights of founder of the church, Prophet T.B Joshua. He specifically alleged that the inquest was set up after the agencies of Lagos state government had openly indicted Joshua of wrongdoing.
In the incident, which occurred on September 12, 2014, a total of 116 persons, mostly foreigners, died.
But in a judgment on Monday, Justice Ibrahim Buba dismissed the suit, saying the lawyer misconceived the provision of the 2009 fundamental human rights enforcement rules, the law under which the suit was filed.
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Buba also held that the lawyer misconceived the powers of the agencies of government. Citing a plethora of authorities to back his position, he ruled that the wordings of the preamble to the fundamental rights enforcement rules were insufficient for anyone to just approach the court with all manners of claim.
The judge said the Lagos state government has the power to make law for peace, order and good governance of the state, pursuant to its social contract with the people.
He said the inquest was set up to unravel the cause of death of more than 100 people, and wondered why Ogungbeje placed Joshua’s interest above those of the victims. He added that as rightly canvassed by the state government, the coroner was not a regular court but an administrative body on a fact-finding mission.
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Buba also wondered why the lawyer elected to pursue the case of Joshua for him, when the man was “not incapacitated or in the moon”.
According to the judge, the arguments of the applicant (Ogungbeje) in support of the suit were mere “allegations without sufficient proof”. He noted that the inquest was established pursuant to the provisions of Lagos State Coroner Law of 2007 duly passed into law by the Lagos state house of assembly.
He also doubted the jurisdiction of the federal high court to adjudicate on the matter, having been filed against the Lagos state government and its bodies.
“After a calm reflection of all the rules and arguments in this matter, I’m of the opinion that the applicant has not made out a case for the enforcement of fundamental human rights and this matter be and is hereby dismissed. I make no order as to cost,” Justice Buba ruled.
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The Lagos state government set up the coroner’s inquest and appointed Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe to preside over it. But Ogungbeje contended that the composition of the inquest was a negation of the principle of natural justice and Section 36 of the Constitution, and as such it was unconstitutional, null and void.
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