Court Strikes Out Application To Stall Synagogue Church Trial

A Lagos State high Court judge sitting in Ikeja has on Friday struck out the applications seeking to stay of proceedings by the counsel to the Synagogue Church of All Nations and four others.  The applications were struck out following the disclosure of the  of intention by the defendants to withdraw the said application which was filed on February 18. The case is being presided over by Justice Lateef Lawal Akapo of the Lagos State High Court. The 111 counts was filed against the defendants, Synagogue Church of All Nations and four others bodered on building without approval and involuntary manslaughter.

This is in relation to the collapse of a six-storey building on the premises of SCOAN on 12th of September, 2014. Listed as the 1st to 5th defendants in the charge are the Registered Trustees of SCOAN, Hardrock Construction and Engineering Company, Jandy Trust Limited, Engineer Oladele Ogundeji and Engineer Akinbela Fatiregun. Their arraignment had been stalled owing to their application for stay of proceedings dated February 18, 2016.

However, they withdrew the application on Friday giving the dismissal of their application for stay of proceedings by the Court of Appeal as the reason for their action.
When the case was called, counsel for the 3rd and 5th defendants,‎ Mrs. Titilola Akinlawon (SAN), informed the court of the dismissal of her clients’ application for stay of proceedings by the Court of Appeal.
Akinlawon said in view of the development, her clients were constrained to withdraw their application for stay of proceedings filed before Justice Lawal-Akapo. In response to them, the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions, Mrs. Idowu Alakija, said she was not opposed to the defendant’s prayer to withdraw their applications for stay of proceedings. Alakija also confirmed that she had been served with the defendants’ fresh application seeking to quash the charges.