ON THE COLLAPSED SYNAGOGUE CHURCH BUILDING... I may not be a structural engineer or even an engineer at all but i sure do know a building which has buckled under its own weight when i see one. As at yesterday, rescuers were still battling to save lives at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Ikotun on the outskirts of Lagos where a building collapsed, killing 44 persons (according to government sources). The Founder and General Overseer of the church, Prophet Temitope Joshua in response has blamed the calamity on a strange aircraft which he said hovered around the building for over 30mins before its collapse. He even went ahead and played a footage of the claimed incident before a retinue of journalists.So far members of the church have been hostile to journalists and even government agencies who have come to investigate the collapse. While i do not wish to directly blame the incident on the revered Prophet nor disparage him for his claims of an invisible aircraft being responsible, it is pertinent to also look at the entire issue holistically. Firstly if an aircraft actually directly or indirectly brought down the building, it would either be that it was bombed or the aircraft got so close as to reverberate the building so much so that it gave way beneath it. The former theory is not plausible because i have looked at the ground zero of the crash and cannot see any fires or craters caused by a bomb explosion. That leaves us with theory no2. Even that is not plausible to an extent because if an aircraft got that close to a residential building, several witnesses from even several meters away would have at least seen or heard it hover. We are yet to see such a witness apart from the prophets so called CCTV footage. Furthermore, the General Manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency, Mrs. Abimbola Animashaun has affirmed that the church had no approval for such a building. Hear her, We have investigated and found that they had no approval for the additional structures. Even the main church, which they have added about three floors on, was sealed two days ago, but it is now open. ”You cannot have an existing building and start putting up more buildings on it. Before you can do anything like that, you must confirm that the structure is still stable and can stand additional buildings.” Infact several national newspapers reported that the collapsed building, which was a three-storey that had another three added to it, had been vibrating for sometime before it collapsed. The engineers should help me out here. Is it safe to add 3 more storeys to an existing 3 storey bulding bearing in mind that the original foundation made provision for only 3 floors? In conclusion, the Lagos state government should not let this matter be swept under the carpet. No matter the personality involved, investigations must be carried out thoroughly and if the Church is found guilty of endangering lives by their carelessness, they should be severely punished to serve as deterrent to others. This is not about Prophet T.B Joshua, it is about setting a right precedent for others to follow. We cannot continue to tolerate mediocrity in this country out of religious sentimentality.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 11:28:49 +0000
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