Lagos reveals how it will handle the case of T.B. Joshua’s Church collapse

On Thursday, the Lagos State Government said it would pursue the cases it filed against Prophet T.B. Joshua, whose real name is Temitope Joshua, to a logical end.

This statement was made by the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Adeniji Kazeem, when  he presenting the Ministry of Justice’s stewardship at the 2018 Ministerial Press Briefing in Alausa, Ikeja.

It can be recalled that the State Government had dragged T.B. Joshua and his church, The Synagogue Church of all Nations, SCOAN to court after a part of its church building under construction collapsed on September 12, 2014.The incident claimed the lives of no fewer than 115 persons which included 85 South Africans who were on pilgrimage to the church.

Prophet T.B. Joshua and his church are jointly facing 110 counts of involuntary manslaughter. Kazeem disclosed that the procedure of such high profile cases in any court of law is usually very slow. He said,

“The wheels of justice move very slowly at times, especially, when it is a high profile case.

That is why the case involving the Synagogue Church and its founder has been dragging on for a couple of years.

Only recently, the prosecution closed his case but usually, when prosecution closes his case, the defence counsel is supposed to open his defence.

However, the defence counsel filed a ‘No case submission’ claiming that the state had not established any case against the suspect.

But I am happy to state that they lost the ‘no case submission.’

They were instructed by the court to open their defence so that the matter can progress.

I believe that very soon, we will come to a conclusion of that matter.”