Synagogue: NANS protest in Lagos, demands halt in Coroner inquest

Activities at the High Court, Ikeja were yesterday halted for minutes by the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS when they protested over the ongoing coroner inquest into last year’s collapsed building at the Synagogue Church of All Nations, SCOAN which killed over 100 persons.

This came four months after the Coroner Inquest set-up by the State governor, Babatunde Fashola to investigate the cause of the collapsed building.

The students, who were armed with placards, stormed the Ikeja High Court chanting several anti-government songs to buttress their demands.

They argued that the Coroner Inquest was an aberration to a national disaster, saying “building collapse is not a purported act; rather a natural disaster.”

President of NANS, Ondo State, Simon Awodola argued that setting up an inquest into a natural disaster was to victimize the church and the owner, Prophet Temitope Joshua.

According to him, “Even setting up coroner inquest is not acceptable to us. We believe that there are corruption, abduction and other cases that should have been looked into. But they were swept under the carpet.

“This is a natural disaster. Imagine when an earthquake happens in Alausa who will Lagos State Government sue for it. The Lagos State Government should abolish the inquest and focus on other developmental issues.

“We are appealing to the Federal and state-Ondo and Lagos-governments to look into the issue critically and look into the claim of the church especially as it concerns the plane that hover on the structure before it collapsed,” he added.