Synagogue building collapse: More controversy as foreigners take over search and rescue operations

Posted by admin Headlines, Religion, Top Stories Monday, September 15th, 2014

THERE seems to be no end yet in sight for the controversy surrounding the building collapse that occurred at the premises of the Synagogue Church in Ikotun area of Lagos, as themanagement of the church reportedly flew in a team of foreign experts to carry out search and rescue operations.

The workers who were fully kitted in emergency attires took over the search and rescue job which should ordinarily be undertaken by officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and its Lagos State counterpart, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), both of which were largely restricted in their movement and operations within the church premises.

However, Sunday Tribune’s findings indicate that while some people are of the opinion that the white men who are said to be Germans were flown into the country by the management of the church to take over the necessary search and rescue work at the site, others are of the notion that the white men were already living in Nigeria and were members of the church just like many other white-skinned foreigners from different parts of the world who worship in the church.

Observations made by Sunday Tribune, in the meantime, seem to support the allegations earlier made by the spokesperson of NEMA, Mr Ibrahim Farionye, who had accused members of the church of not allowing NEMA officials to do their job, hours after the ugly incident occurred.

“The church members have been very aggressive and tried attacking emergency responders,” Farinloye had declared, clearly indicating that he and members of the emergency team had been largely restricted by the actions of the church members.

Quite similarly, attempts made by Sunday Tribune to speak with some of the members of the church found on ground also proved abortive as none of them appeared ready to speak about the sad development. Repeated calls put across to another member of the church, who is also a personal friend of Sunday Tribune’s correspondent, were left unanswered, neither did he call back.

Sensing that not much headway was made following attempts to speak to members of the church, members of the community, in separate interviews with Sunday Tribune, unanimously insisted that it was wrong for members of the church to have denied those empowered by law from carrying out their job.

Despite the tense atmosphere observed when Sunday Tribune visited the site, some members of the community were more than ready to bare their minds on the incident.

“All I can say is that I find the entire situation very confusing and I think the management of the church needs to tell us why emergency officials have been largely restricted from doing their job. In the past few years, a lot of buildings have collapsed in Lagos, including a church building at Ojodu. But in all those cases, never were we told that emergency workers were denied entry or restricted from carrying out their legitimate business. If they don’t have anything to hide, they should allow the officials to enter every nook and cranny of the church so long as that is necessary,” said a resident of the community, who identified himself as Alhaji Kareem Oresanya.

Similarly, another resident who preferred not to disclose her identity wondered why white men would be asked to carry out a task that could be easily done by those she described as ‘well-trained’ Nigerians.

“I was surprised when I saw white men working on the site, and this was the same site that Nigerian emergency workers were restricted from entering. Before now, many people, including me, had formed and nurtured some reservations about the Synagogue Church, but this decision to bring in white men and restrict Nigerians from doing their job will even further fuel such misgivings,” the young woman stated.

While Sunday Tribune’s correspondent was nosing around among the crowd of onlookers whose number appeared to have reduced from when the incident happened on Friday, he couldn’t help but hear a pun one of the onlookers had for the General Overseer of the church, who for many years has continue to court controversy.

“I thought he was a prophet who always saw things coming. How come he didn’t see this? He prophesies on the outcome of football matches and who would emerge winners of tournaments, but I consider it ironic that he couldn’t foresee this disaster and act accordingly,” the onlooker was heard yelling in the company of those who apparently enjoyed the pun.

On whether it was true that the building’s structure was changed from two-storey to five, as reportedly claimed by the NEMA spokesperson, another resident, who had been seen talking like a professional builder and had attracted a handful of listeners who surrounded him, stated that “I didn’t really take note when the construction started, we all know that the church is very rich and as such they can decide to build anything anytime they want. But I think the government needs to really investigate this incident very well, because I know that it will be wrong for anyone to raise a building originally designed to be a small building to a higher one without having problems. The government must do its job very well and bring anyone culpable to book.”

The NEMA Public Relations Officer, Ibrahim Farionye, had in an earlier text message to the media, hinted that “The additional three (storeys) were being constructed when it collapsed around 1p.m. on Friday afternoon. The church members have been very aggressive and tried attacking emergency responders.”

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