By Abdulwahab Abdulah, Bartholomew Madukwe & Victor Ogunsola

LAGOS—A structural engineer, Mr Saheed Ariyori, yesterday, told the Coroner’s Inquest investigating the September 12, 2014 building collapse at the Synagogue Church Of All Nations, that the load imposed on the foundation was far more than what the foundation can bear, hence the collapse.

TB Joshua-Synagogue Church

He said: “It was a wrong choice of foundation base. The foundation should have been continuous base and not a pad as was used in the construction.

“Based on all the tests and the calculations, we discovered that from inception, the building failed because the base that was supposed to take the load was grossly inadequate.”

Ariyori, a consultant with the Lagos State Material Testing Agency, told the court that he has 30 years experience.

Testifying before the coroner’s inquest, Ariyori said he was part of the team of structural and geo-technical engineers that carried out a Structural Integrity Test on the building after it collapsed.

Ariyori, who was led in evidence by Mr. Akingbolahan Adeniran, counsel to the Lagos State Government, maintained that the team took samples of materials used in the building to the laboratory for test and also took measurements of the foundation bases.

He noted that since the church did not furnish them with the building’s designs, the team had to simulate the building to arrive at their conclusions.

According to him: “The minimum base that will be required should have been 4.5 metres by 4.5 metres but what we had there was 2.2 metres by 2.2 metres.”

Ayiroyi demonstrated the defect before the court after being provided with a copy of the structural design, which he took about one hour in doing the calculation.

Responding to the claim, the church’s counsel, Mr Olalekan Ojo, asked the coroner to adjourn his cross-examination of the witness to enable him consult with the church’s engineers.

Ojo noted there were some discrepancies in the building design which needed to be examined before the witness could be cross-examined.

He said that the church’s consultant engineer, Mr Oladele Ogundeji, while testifying before the court had also disagreed with Ayiroyi’s claim that a raft foundation should have been erected for the structure.

After listening to all parties, the Coroner Judge, Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, adjourned till March 5 for site visitation, and fixed March 6 for Ariyori’s cross-examination.