The incident, which occurred on September 12, 2014 at the church in Ikotun area of Lagos, led to the sudden death of 116 people, mostly foreigners.
The Lagos State Government had constituted the Coroner inquest and appointed Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe to unravel the circumstances that led to the incident, with a view to forestalling future occurrence.
But Ogungbeje filed a fundamental human rights enforcement suit to challenge the composition and any decision of the Coroner inquest.
The three defendants to the suit are the Lagos State Government, the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, and Magistrate Komolafe.
But the defendants, in a counter-affidavit deposed to by Moradeke Oladunjoye, a Senior State Counsel with the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, stressed that the inquest into the collapsed building was initiated due to public outcry and pursuant to the provisions of Coroner System Law of Lagos State, 2007.
Oladunjoye clarified that far from the allegation in the suit, the inquest was not a regular court, but just on a fact-finding assignment to unravel what actually happened.
He added that the preliminary investigation carried out by the Lagos State Building Control Agency revealed that the church never got approval for the additional structures on the collapsed building.
Besides, government argued that the applicant (Ogungbeje) lacked the locus standi to sustain the suit as he was neither a member of the Synagogue Church, nor was he personally affected by the inquest.
The matter, which was scheduled for argument on Thursday, could not go on as planned before Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court in Lagos.
The applicant, who was served with the counter-affidavit of the defendants in open court on Thursday, had requested for a short adjournment to enable him file a reply on points of law.
Justice Buba consequently fixed November 10, 2014 for hearing.
The applicant had argued in the suit that the composition of the Coroner inquest was a negation of the principle of natural justice and Section 36 of the Constitution, and as such it was unconstitutional, null and void.
The lawyer recalled that the Coroner inquest was constituted by the Lagos State Government after the agencies of the state government had indicted the founder of Synagogue Church, Prophet T.B. Joshua and his church of wrongdoing by adding additional structures on the building without approval.
He argued that if allowed to continue, the proceedings of the Coroner inquest would seriously occasion miscarriage of justice, as the same Coroner would base its decision on the testimonies of the same agencies of Lagos State, which had openly indicted Joshua and his church.
The lawyer, is therefore, seeking an order nullifying the composition of the Coroner and the proceedings so far, as well as a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants jointly and severally from further proceeding, sitting, investigating, embarking on fact finding or taking any untoward action in any manner whatsoever on any facts connected to the case.
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