As Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) is about to open its defence in the criminal charges brought against it over the collapse of its six storey guest house in September 2014 in which scores of people died, the world is waiting eagerly for this historic legal battle.
Clearly it is not only the SCOAN alone that is on trial but also the entire Nigeria and of course humanity!
What is it exactly that is peculiar in this case? Was this the first time a structure would collapse with even greater tragedy in the world? Definitely not. What is astonishing and remains astounding till today about this case is the seeming extraordinary and intriguing interest this incident has attracted.
It is obviously not going to be an easy case. The peculiarity and unusual nature of the collapse which seems to have defied all known logic of foundational and structural ingredients of collapsed structures in the world of building industry.
Former Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola clearly foresaw this when he pointed out during an interaction with the media after visiting the collapsed site that: “the issue of Synagogue is highly technical and it requires experts to determine what actually happened to the building because it is not a thing that can be rushed into.”
Yes it is highly technical as can be seen from the Coroner’s inquest. Today the event of collapsed structure in Synagogue has become a case study for academic research because of its peculiarity for the advancement of knowledge.
Dr Stephen Ntoga, an international expert in civil, structural and material engineering and Dean Faculty of Engineering in Tanzanian University was at the site for thorough investigation with his team. His verdict was incontrovertible: “The collapse of the Synagogue building was completely strange. It goes beyond the issue of foundation or structural elements. The construction and the materials used were excellent.” Ntoga, a renowned scholar who had handled and partaken in collapsed structures across Europe and America and boasting of the British and American codes said he clinically examined the foundation where he found no element of crack, the aggregates of materials used from the sand, steels, cement, columns, beams, loading among others that the job he found done in the collapsed Synagogue building also took a preemptive sensitivity of resistance of building construction in an environment prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes and therefore confidently declared that the job done on the collapsed structure was perfect.
He stated further that the types of steels used was the highest in the world and as such with what he found, without any palpitation the foundation of the collapse six storey structure would carry conveniently twelve floors by the strength of what he saw.
Another expert from South Africa, Engr. Alfeus Mamafa who also carried out an independent and private investigation at the instance of his country also admitted at the end that: “I found nothing wrong in the design and work done here. Structural failure will always happen from the foundation and in this case everything remained solid, no cracks of any kind and with the structural elements intact nothing can affect or shake the building. It can never be a case of foundational or structural failure.”
In the same vein, Engr. Thabo Pheeha also an expert concluded after his team’s investigation that “the structure must have been affected by something else other than structural or foundational failure. It is not the case here because everything remained intact despite the collapse.”
Dr Folayan, a Geophysical expert with over 45 years of experience practising across the world including USA declared after his examination of the collapsed building that he was ready to sacrifice his career if anybody could disprove his findings that the foundation of the building was in any way faulty. He described it as “adequate, perfect and superb.”
What then was responsible for the collapse? Prophet T.B. Joshua, The General Overseer of SCOAN has a reputation for excellence all over the world for whatever he lays his hands on to do. Everything around him clearly shows the mark of super standard and higher wisdom.
He is the only preacher who would hold Crusades abroad without collecting offerings or donations there. He would foot his bill all through and even do charity in the country.
In him you find love and unequalled integrity.
T.B. Joshua had rushed down from a crusade in Cali Columbia and suddenly appeared in the Sunday service. He declared: “I could see a dark cloud gathering here and that is why I have to rush down.” He enjoined church members to be praying for this to pass over.
But like Jesus at the critical moment of His trial when he called God to take away the cup of sorrow from him if it was His Father’s will, similarly the cup of sorrow of the collapse building could not be removed from Prophet T.B. Joshua.
Invariably from a superb intuition and higher spiritual intimation Prophet T.B. Joshua in a jiffy mounted surveillance CCTV cameras on the building with nobody able to decode what was in the offing besides the Man of Synagogue himself.
Today the world had seen clearly the perfidy and conspiracy of the collapse through the CCTV recordings. Within four seconds, a six storey building came down flat. It had never happened in the whole world.
Jericho Weapons in its website added more egregious dimension to the charade of the synagogue building collapse. It was a case of one Super power country accusing another as the mastermind of the collapse. What did he call TB JOSHUA offence? For having the effrontery to be boldly assisting and curing Ebola victims, a terrible affliction. programmed to pauperise Africa and to continue to keep Africa on her knees before the super power country and its allies.
This perhaps may have informed the wisdom of TB Joshua in the use of words such as: ,” Spirit of man, Spirit of woman” for those people with the demonic spirit of gay and lesbianism as euphemism while undergoing spiritual deliverance.
Clearly the case of Synagogue is a battle between the light and darkness. It is also like that of a child with an unfathomable fractured waist. The wisdom of Solomon beyond legalism may be required because SCOAN is a blessing to the world.
- Adejumo is a journalist and public analyst.
