LAGOS State governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, on Sunday, directed all staff of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Ikotun Egbe, to leave the site of the collapsed building, to allow rescue workers do their job.
Fashola, during his visit to the church, on Sunday, expressed sadness at the loss of lives, adding that the incident was unfortunate.
He urged the General Overseer of the church, Prophet Temitope Joshua, to ask all his staff to step down from the collapsed building site until rescue work was finished.
“When we finish, if you have any person, whether an engineer or a medical person who you want to be on the site and working with them, so as to know what they are taking there, then it is easier; they can report to you and then report to me. But we can’t continue rescue operations with your men hanging around here,” he said.
While commiserating with Prophet Joshua, who came to meet him at the site of the collapsed structure, Governor Fashola, however, directed that the staff of the church should give way for the rescue workers to be able to carry out the job of evacuating the debris and rescuing possible victims still trapped under the collapsed building.
The governor, who was received at the site by the state Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Olutoyin Ayinde, told Prophet Joshua “what you need to understand now is that this place is now an accident scene and so all your staff must leave this place. We need to take control of this place and let people who are trained to do this job to do so.”
Meanwhile the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), on Sunday, said 44 dead bodies had been recovered, while 130 people trapped in the collapsed building had, so far, been rescued.
The Public Relations Officer of the agency, Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, confirmed this in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Lagos.
Farinloye said 80 per cent of people rescued from the building were women.
He said two female children, aged four and eight, were also among those rescued.
According to him, the continued rescue exercise had increased the number of dead persons from 17 to 44.
God will strike back at my enemies –TB Joshua
Pastor Joshua has said God will get back at those he believed were behind the building collapse incident recorded on his church premises on Friday.
The cleric insisted that the incident was the handiwork of those bent on destroying his reputation and the church, saying that “God will get back at them.”
According to him, the collapse of the guest house which had, so far, reportedly killed over 44 people, was part of a grand scheme to destroy him.
“A big head wears the lion heart. Don’t quickly forget the incident of Boko Haram here, even though it was televised, they said it was a lie, but they later realised it was true. Don’t also forget the Ebola issue here too, they sent messages to all of you, to scare you from coming to this church,” he stated.
“Don’t be scared, you are not the target, I am the target,” he told the congregation, adding that “I know my hours have not yet come. I have not yet finished my job; I have not finished my job.”