Faulty recorder stalls inquest into Synagogue collapse

The coroner’s inquest into the Synagogue building collapse has been adjourned till Friday due to faulty recording equipment.

Oyetade Komolafe, the coroner,  had summoned more witnesses, including T.B Joshua, founder of the church; Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Lagos state ministry of works and the contractor who built the collapsed structure, to appear before the court on Thursday.

However, moments into the testimony of the SON witness, Bede Obayi, the court registrar notified the presiding magistrate that the court’s electronic recorder was no longer working.

After efforts to fix the recorder failed, the magistrate adjourned the matter till Friday.

Before the adjournment, Obayi had presented results of tests carried out on materials used in constructing the collapsed building.

Expressing displeasure at the absence of T.B Joshua, the coroner warned that the church founder and other witnesses must appear before the court on Friday or risk arrest.

However, Joshua’s legal team said it had challenged the coroner’s legal power to issue summons.

“We have gone to the high court to challenge the jurisdiction of the coroner to issue witness summons,” Olalekan Ojo, Joshua’s counsel, told journalists after the hearing.

“The coroner has unconsciously exceeded his jurisdiction in that he has started inquiring into matters that are not causative of deaths.”

Joshua had been summoned twice to appear before coroner investigating the September 12 tragedy which claimed 116 lives, but he has failed to honour the summons.