By Abdulwahab Abdulah & Jane Echewedo

Lagos— Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo of an Ikeja High Court, yesterday remanded the two engineers that constructed the collapsed seven-story guest house of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) in prisons.

The engineers, Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun, were remanded after their pleas were taken by the court on a 111-count  charge of gross negligence and criminal manslaughter preffered against them.

Meanwhile, one Niyi Jegede who represented the Synagogue Church as a corporate body was not remanded in prisons alongside the engineers.

There was a brief argument on whether Jegede could be remanded or not. However, the court absolved him.

For sometimes now, efforts of the state to arraign them on criminal charges were abortive because of some motions filed by the engineers, asking the court to wash off its hands and declare the offences as illegal and of no effect.

However, they submitted themselves for arraignment in court yesterday, which enabled the prosecution to put them in dock for the offences.

According to the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Mrs. Idowu Alakija, the defendants committed the offences between August 20 and September 30, 2013.

In the charge, the prosecution argued that the  defendants constructed a seven-storey building at SCOAN Ikotun Egbe area of Ikeja, Lagos with “gross negligence and disregard for human life.”

It submitted that the situation led to the death of 116 persons, 85 of whom were South Africans and other nationals including, Nigerians on September 12, 2014.