Lagos State government has urged an Ikeja High Court to dismiss Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) trustees’ application seeking to quash the coroner’s verdict inquest into the church’s collapsed guest houseý.
The coroner indicted the church and its engineers for the incident which claimed the lives of 116 persons and ordered that they be tried for criminal negligence.
The trustees are seeking an order quashing the verdict of the coroner court presided over by Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe because the court allegedly exceeded its statutory jurisdiction.
Chief Magistrate Komolafe and Lagos State Attorney-General are respondents in the suit.
Urging Justice Kazeem Alogba to dismiss the motion, the Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice Adeniji Kazeem said it was dead on arrival as it did not meet Order 40 of the Lagos State Coroner Law.
”The law is succinctly spelt out. The verdict of the coroner was delivered on the 8th of July 2015, and they brought their application challenging jurisdiction six months after the coroner’s verdict. All they sought for in their application is an extension of time,” the Attorney-General said.
Kazeem described the inclusion of Alimosho in all the processes filed as a “judicial slip” adding that the issue of wrong heading of the nomenclature of the coroner was a mere irregularity which could not render the coroner’s proceedings invalid.
Questioning the court’s jurisdiction to hear the suit, Kazeem argued that the trustees were clearly out of time as mandated by Order 40, Rule 4 of the court rules within which to file the suit.
He said under the rules, such application should have been brought within three months of the coroner’s decision, but it was filed on January 13, 2016, almost six months after the verdict.
The attorney-general also faulted the verifying affidavit in support of the motion deposed to by one Sunday Okoroji, an assistant to Prophet T.B Joshua, saying the deponent lacked the power to replace the trustees, who are legally empowered to do so.
He added: “My Lord, we submit that there is no proper verifying affidavit before this court because the said Okoroji cannot replace the trustees of the church who are still alive and kicking and as such the application is incompetent.”
But the church’s counsel, ýE.L Akpofure (SAN), insisted that the coroner court which looked into the collapsed of six-storey building does not exist in law.
ý “The Coroner’s Court of Lagos State, Alimosho District, which presided over and delivered the verdict, is unknown to Coroner’s Court of Lagos State, 2007 and Coroner’s System Law (Subsidiary Legislation) which established Coroner’s Court in Lagos State.
“The Lagos Coroner’s System Law, 2007 only established Lagos, Ikeja, Yaba and Apapa districts and that Alimosho Coroner’s district which presided over the Synagogue building collapse inquest was not a creation of the law.”
He submitted that the coroner acted in excess of its jurisdiction, adding that the coroner succinctly carried out his office in all his capacity, arrogating jurisdiction to himself, despite an appeal challenging his jurisdiction.
“There is nothing like Alimosho Coroner district. It does not exist in the law; and neither is Ikotun-Egbe tied to any of the districts,” Akpofure said.
Justice Alogba reserved ruling till February 19.
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