NAN-H-139
Synagogue
By Moji Eniola
Ikeja, Feb. 23, 2017 (NAN) A witness, Mr Rafeeq Arogunjo, on Thursday told an Ikeja High Court that the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage of the collapsed building of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) released by the church was biased.
Arogunjo, an Air Traffic Controller Officer at the Muritala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, stated this after a CCTV clip was played in the courtroom by the prosecution led by Mrs Idowu Alakija, the State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Two engineers — Akinbela Fatiregun and Oladele Ogundeji — alongside their companies, Hardrock Construction and Engineering Company and Jandy Trust Ltd, the trustees of the church, are standing trial over the collapsed building.
They are facing a 111-count charge of gross negligence and criminal manslaughter over the collapse of a six-storey guest house to which they plead not guilty.
The building collapse led to the death of 116 persons, 85 of who were South Africans.
Arogunjo was the Air Traffic Controller at the airport when the guest house collapsed on Sep. 12, 2014.
While being led in evidence by Alakija, Arogunjo said: “From my personal opinion, the footage tends to sensationalise the event in various ways.
“There is a time lag between the time the aircraft flew over the building and when the building collapsed.
“There building collapsed at 12.44 p.m. and the aircraft was already parked at the airport hangar at 12.33 p.m.
“The time on the CCTV footage does not reflect this.
“The continuous appearance of the aircraft hovering over the building shows that the video was biased to give the impression that the aircraft caused the collapse of the building.
“The aircraft depicted in the CCTV is smaller in geometry which interpreted that it was far away from the building.”
Arogunjo, who has served as the Deputy General Manager Air Traffic Control Operations at the MMIA, is currently serving as a Special Assistant to the Managing Director of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
He listed his qualifications as a diploma in air traffic control, a licence in aerodrome and approach, a licence in terminal approach and an accredited examiner and rater for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Agency.
He said that on the day of the collapse he saw an application in his office for an aircraft circuit training by the Nigerian Air Force.
He said: “On Sep. 12, 2014, when I got to the office, the first thing I did was to look at the notice board.
“I saw an application by the Nigerian Air Force for a circuit training with their aircraft from 10am to 12pm that day.
“The training that day was conducted without any noticeable event, the airplanes were to fly with the control zones of the airspace which is 10 nautical miles from the airport.
“The first flight took off at 10am local time and flew for an hour and 30 minutes, there was no incident reported during the flight.
“It was much later I got to know through the papers that there was a collapsed building at Ikotun, Egbe.
“On Monday or Tuesday of the following week, I got to know that the building collapse was ascribed to a flight.”
Arogunjo said that the MD of NAMA as well as the Commandant of the Nigeria Airforce and some military officers approached him to inquire about the flight being complained about.
“The only way we could do that was to play back the radar tape to see how the flight was conducted and our findings showed that the flight was conducted according to legal requirements.
“The flight in question was 1,100 feet from the ground and from the coordinates we studied, we noticed that the flight turned in the direction of Ikotun Egbe to avoid oncoming traffic.
“The Ikotun Egbe area falls within the normal circuit routes, there was no time at which it passed over the building, the speed of the aircraft was within normal limits.
“What our aircraft do is to maintain a terrain clearance to avoid the highest obstacle and the church building was not the highest obstacle.
“The closest the aircraft made to the building was about half a mile which is the equivalent of 925 meters,” Arogunjo said.
Arogunjo, however, admitted during cross-examination by Mr Olalekan Ojo, counsel to the church that he omitted the fact of the timing aircraft when he testified before the Coroner’s inquest instituted by the Lagos State Government to investigate the cause of the collapse.
“Yes I omitted to add the important fact of the timing of landing of the aircraft during my testimony before the coroner’s court.”
Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo adjourned the case to March 30, March 31 and April 7, April 20 and April 21 for continuation of trial. (NAN)
MAE/DA
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Editing by Dele Akinsola