A new date has been fixed for the trial of popular Nigerian cleric, Prophet T.B. Joshua and the two engineers involved in the building of the ill-fated building.
A Lagos State High Court in Ikeja on Monday fixed February 18, 2016 for the arraignment of the Registered Trustees of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, founded by Prophet T.B. Joshua.
The defendants were charged before Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo on one count of building without the approval of the Lagos State Government. The said building collapsed on September 12, 2014 leading to the death of 116 persons.
The Punch reports that, also to be arraigned on 110 counts of involuntary manslaughter are the two engineers who built the collapsed building, Messrs Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun.
Justice Lawal-Akapo fixed the arraignment date on Monday after he dismissed an application by the engineers challenging the manner by which the charge sheet was served on them.
The engineers had described the charge filed against them by Lagos State Government as an abuse of court processes, saying Justice Ibrahim Buba of Federal High Court in Lagos had on December 2,2016 restrained the state Attorney General from prosecuting them pending an appeal they filed at the Court of Appeal.
But in his ruling on Monday, Justice Lawal-Akapo dismissed the application for lacking in merit.
He held, “The order of a high court cannot be binding on another high court, be it federal or state because they are both courts of coordinate jurisdictions.
“The order of Buba J. cannot bind this court and cannot stop these proceedings. I find no merit in the two applications and they hereby dismissed.”