COURT STOPPED THE ARRAIGNMENT OF SYNAGOGUE'S ENGINEERS FOR MANSLAUGHTER

A Lagos Federal High Court on  Tuesday restrained the Attorney General of Lagos State from continuing with  arraigning the engineers who built the six-storey building, which later collapsed in Sept 2014 causing the death of 116 people, for the Synagogue Church Of All Nations in Lagos .
The engineers were arraigned for involuntary manslaughter in contradiction to Section 222 of the of Lagos State 2011 Criminal Law. The planned arraignment at Lagos State High Court which was initially slated for Monday was adjourned till December 11, 2015 as a result of no-service of the charge sheet on some of the defendants.

While the Judge was adjourning the case, he stated that the suit apart from being a criminal case, it is also a sensitive one, he also stated that all criminal cases must be given an accelerated hearing.

Federal High Court judge, Justice Buba said the defendants had the constitutional right to appeal and that he was required by the law to look at the engineers’ application judicially and judiciously.

Justice Buba held.“In the circumstance of this case, the respondents’ nine-paragraph counter-affidavit has not been able to show that I should not exercise my discretion judicially and judiciously. I am inclined to grant this application with a caveat or rider that the applicants must pursue the appeal diligently and vigorously so that justice can be done to all parties. The application for injunction pending appeal succeeds and is hereby granted. If the applicants fail to prosecute the appeal diligently, the order can be vacated by this court or the Court of Appeal,”

"on Tuesday ruling however, Justice Buba of the Federal High Court stopped the proposed arraignment of the engineers pending the outcome of their appeal against a judgment given by Buba himself on November 9, 2015."