Cleric excused from appearing in court

Pastor T.B Joshua will no longer be ordered to court by the Lagos coroner, Magistrate O.A. Komolafe, probing the cause of the building collapse at the Synagogue Church Of All Nations.

Magistrate O.A Komolafe has reserved further action on the witness summon served on the founder of the church, Prophet T.B. Joshua, to appear in court as a witness.

In an earlier application by the pastor’s counsel, Mr. Olalekan Oko, T.B Joshua asked the coroner to halt further proceedings which include inviting the prophet to appear to give evidence before the inquest.

Justice Okunnu had, last week Friday, adjourned till December 22, 2014 to take Joshua’s application. After dismissing the application by T.B Joshua asking him to wait for Justice Okunnu’s judgement before going on with the inquest, Komolafe on Monday, December 15 accepted to wait for the High Court’s judgement before acting on the invitation served on Joshua to make a court appearance.

Also testifying in court on Monday was the Deputy General Manager, Air Traffice Control of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Mr. Rafiq Arogunjo, who revealed that the the “strange aircraft” hovering around the Ikotun area of Lagos on September 12 belonged to the Nigeria Air Force.

Arogunjo, in his testimony said the aircraft, with five crew members on board, was on training and that the aircraft did not fly directly over the collapsed building, but maintained the statutory 1000 feet flight distance in congested areas.

Mr. Rafiq Arogunjo told the Lagos State Coroner that the aircraft flew about six times in the area because of high traffic of in-coming aircrafts at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.