A coroner on Wednesday dismissed the arguments of the lawyers of Pastor TB Joshua, that he should not be summoned by the Inquest to testify on the building collapse in his Synagogue Church of All Nations where 116 people died, as he did not witness the collapse.
The Coroner therefore threatened to order the arrest of the cleric if he failed to show up before the Inquest to testify.
The September 12 tragedy is being investigated by a Coroner’s Inquest to ascertain the cause of the collapse as Joshua had alleged that an aircraft that hovered round the building before it collapsed could be responsible for the collapse.
“The court has the power to summon whoever it deems necessary to assist it,” the CVoroner, Oyetade Komolafe told the hearing in Lagos.
“The counsel should advise The Prophet to come. The church is not on trial. It’s not a matter of ego. Nobody is above the law. The court will be fair to all.
“If he is an institution with immunity, the court will not even go there. If the man refuses to come, he can be arrested. He has to appear. We summoned The Prophet. We summoned the contractors,” Komolafe explained.
Joshua’s claim of an explosion has been dismissed in several testimonies before the inquest, with the preliminary report of the Lagos State Chief Examiner also putting the cause of death of the victims as building collapse without traces of explosion.
Joshua is due to testify on November 5.
by Greenstarnetwork admin..
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