Pressure Mounts on TB Joshua After Building Collapse
Following the collapse of the six-storey building At the premises of the Synagogue Church for All Nations (SCOAN), the founder and spiritual leader of the Church, Prophet TB Joshua is under immense pressures from members of the public, those affected directly by the incident and the Lagos State Government due to failure to assist search and rescue efforts at the site.
It was revealed earlier by the Commissioner of Planning & Urban Development in Lagos Toyin Ayinde that before the building project was embarked upon by the church, they did not submit the plans for the new wings to the Ministry for Approval.
He stated that “the investigation will look at Joshua’s claim of low-flying aircraft and that Initial indications were that the building came down because extra floors were being added without strengthening the foundations and samples would be taken from the site” he added.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Prophet TB Joshua and members of his staff failed to act in manners that would suit the situation instead opting to blame the collapse of the building on the sightings of a “strange aircraft” that appeared over 3 times before the collapse or the explanation that the building collapse was a s a result of a deadly attack on the person of the Man of God by members of the Boko Haram sect
Some 67 South Africans died when a hostel for Joshua’s foreign followers collapsed last Friday, President Jacob Zuma said in Pretoria on Tuesday, with fears that the toll could rise further.
Rescue workers complained that the Church had refused to help in their efforts to rescue people trapped inside the building who may still be alive. Although the National Emergency Management Authority stated that the current search for bodies could end today Wednesday 17th September.
The South West Region Spokesman for the Agency told News men that “The church is not co-operating with emergency workers at all,” after disclosing the latest toll as 67 with 131 survivors.
“For the first three days of the incident, the church people were very hostile and prevented rescue officials’ access to the site.
“It was after the visit of the (Lagos state) governor (Babatunde Fashola) when he threatened to close down the church that we were allowed to work.
“Perhaps if we had had early access to the place we would have been able to save more lives.”
But there was increasing anger on social media that he should not be above the law.
The preacher has not publicly commented on the deaths and instead tried to shift suspicion on to Boko Haram militants and a low-flying plane seen over the building before the collapse.
Since Friday he has only posted a series of Bible verses on his Facebook page and Twitter account. On Tuesday night, he tweeted: “Hard times may test me, they cannot destroy me.”
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