they gave us permission to build twelve flours- Tb Joshua aide speaks

Barely two weeks after the collapse of the guest house
at Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos, a fresh
indication emerged yesterday that the church was given
an approval for a 12-storey building by the Lagos State
government.
TB Joshua-Synagogue Church
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television,
yesterday, Mr. Ken Emeakayi, an aide to Prophet T.B
Joshua, refuted reports that the building had no
approval.
He said: “It is not true and I stand to be corrected. I
want to also point out that whosoever said that was
not saying the correct thing, because I also listened to
a commissioner of Lagos State, when he came to your
studio. He said that when he got there, he discovered
that there was no approval for the building, meaning
that he has not been there before and there was
nothing of such. Yes, the church had approval.”
Asked if the church had shown the approval to the
Lagos State Government authorities, he said: “Yes,
ofcourse. Officials of Lagos State Government have been
there severally. They have even come to look at other
buildings in the church premises. So, there is no
additional sturcture to the building. We are talking of a
building that is on its own. We have the pictures. It’s a
new structure.
“The building is still under construction, but it is not as
if it is an attachment to the church auditorium. It is a
building standing on its own and in a different
compound. It is a guest house. It is a building that has
its own design and approval. This particular structure in
question, has an approval for 12-storey building and
they have even come to examine the foundation and its
casting after this incident. They have therefore seen that
it was done with the specification of a 12-storey
building.”
When contacted, Lagos State Commissioner for Physical
Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Toyin Ayinde,
declined comment on the matter saying, “there will be
no further comment on the collapsed Synagogue
building until investigations into the matter are
concluded and the report made public.”
Lagos is conducting thorough investigation— Fashola
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday,
declared that the state government is conducting
thorough investigation to unravel the facts surrounding
the collapse of a six-storey building owned by the
Synagogue Church of All Nations, SCOAN, saying, “we
are acting methodically on the issue.”
This came two weeks after the six-storey guest house
owned by SCOANs killed over 100 persons and 131
others rescued.
Fashola, who stated this during a courtesy visit by the
executive members of the Nigerian Institute of Town
Planners, NITP, led by its President, Mr. Steve Onu, at
the State House, Alausa, Ikeja, warned residents to
refrain from making false statements on the collapsed
building.
The governor, while reacting to complaints from
residents, demanding immediate action said: ”People
must understand that when accidents like this happen,
there are many issues involved. Perhaps, we have got
used to what was amounts to an inappropriate conduct
on arrival at an accident scene and make
pronouncements on what happened before the
investigations are concluded.
“Residents must desist from this act and wait for
professionals to make pronouncements. I think we
should just allow that process to go on. I think the
investigation will be held if we refrain from any further
comment about this incident. So, some of the people we
took away from the accident scenes, who are in coma
and who are in shock, people count them as dead
people.
“This kind of behaviour must stop. Unless there is
anybody keeping dead bodies in his house and private
hospital, we are the regulators and all those bodies
come to our mortuaries. So, we must account for
them.” he warned.