Pressure has been mounting ohttp://www.zimeye.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=163548&action=editn Mr. Joshua as the public continues to question whether he was criminally negligent over the collapse of the building.
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The Church Trustees had however challenged the findings and recommendation of the Coroner at the Federal High Court but the application was dismissed on Monday November 11, 2015 paving the way for the trial to commence.
The trustees of Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) will tomorrow be arraigned before a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja over the collapse of a six-storey building in the church on September 12, 2014, which led to the death of 116 persons.
The dead were mostly South Africans.
The engineers had filed the suits following the coroner’s verdict, which attributed the building collapse to structural defects.
At court on Monday, Joshua was again absent, as were the two engineers who have called the coroner’s verdict “unreasonable, one-sided and biased”.
According to lawyer to SCOAN, Oluseun Abimbola, the board of trustees is a legal entity, which could be represented by anybody and not necessarily the church founder.
The Presiding Judge, Justice Akapo Lawal, expressed unhappiness over the absence of the defendants. “This is a criminal trial and a sensitive matter like this one should be given accelerated hearing”, he said.
Mr. Kazeem said they were served through their lawyers in the previous case, but because this is criminal case, they wanted to serve them directly.
“The defence counsel is hereby directed to oblige the prosecution team with valid addresses of the 3rd, 4th and 5th defendant within 72 hours”.
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He is a self-styled faith healer and mystic who also runs a popular evangelical television channel.
