The engineers in charge of the construction of the collapsed guest house of the Synagogue Church of All Nations which killed scores of people were on Tuesday returned to the Kirikiri prison where they were remanded by a Lagos court.
Akinbela Fatiregun and Oladele Ogundeji will remain in prison till 3rd May, according to a ruling by Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo of the Ikeja High Court.
The duo were remanded on 26th April by Lawal-Akapo after they pleaded not guilty to 111-count charges bordering on gross negligence and criminal manslaughter.
When the case came up on Tuesday, counsel to Fatiregun, Mrs Titi Akinlawon (SAN), in her submission before the court, promised that the defendants would not jump bail.
“The fifth defendant has been charged before at the Magistrates’ Court and he did not jump bail; he presented himself at all times.
“Prior to when he was granted bail by the magistrates’ court, he was granted police bail and he always presented himself.
“Since the entire essence of remand is for the defendant not to jump bail, the defendant going by his antecedents, has proven himself to be honourable by not jumping bail on previous occasions,” Akinlawon said.
Mr Olalekan Ojo, counsel to Ogundeji in his application before the court, said Ogundeji needed to be on bail in order to build his defence.
“The case of the prosecution is founded on gross negligence, it will collapse or succeed on the strength of experts’ opinion and it is not pertinent for anyone to state the evidence is overwhelming on technical issues.
“Because of the technical nature of the evidence, there is need for the fourth defendant to be on bail to liaise with experts to build his defence.
“He cannot do this while on remand at the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons,” he said.
Prosecuting counsel, Mrs. Idowu Alakija, the State Director of Public Prosecutions, said that the court was not obliged to grant bail to the engineers.
“The granting of bail is not mandatory, this court has the discretion to grant bail; but in so doing, it has to look at the facts before it.
“My Lord, both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal had in an avalanche of cases held that a court needs not restrict itself to matters in the affidavit, but the proofs presented in court.
“We have emphasised that Oladele Ogundeji has no address within the jurisdiction of the court.
“If this court is to grant bail, I urge the court to grant accelerated hearing without delay because we have had too many delays caused by applications presented by the defence in this case,” she said
