Mystery plane ruled out of church tragedy

LAGOS: A mysterious aircraft that a popular Nigerian preacher linked to the collapse of a guest house at his Lagos megachurch was an air force plane, a pathologist’s inquest was told yesterday.

TB Joshua and officials at his Synagogue Church of All Nations (Scoan) have suggested the plane, which they claimed was “hovering” above the building, may have caused the tragedy.

A total of 116 people were killed in the September 12 collapse, 84 of them South Africans.

Police investigator Superintendent Olusola Agoi said ongoing enquiries had shown that the aircraft was a military plane.

“We have found out that the aircraft belongs to the NAF (Nigerian Air Force) and was said to be on a circuit training mission at the time of the incident,” Agoi told the hearing.

“This was confirmed by the NAF,” he added.

Scoan officials released security camera footage of the aircraft and the building collapse in the days after the tragedy to lend weight to their theory of aerial sabotage and an explosion.

But expert witnesses have ruled out a blast and said the plane, which was flying at 1 100 feet, was on the flight path to the nearby Lagos airport.

“Based on the distance of the aircraft to the building, it was practically impossible for the aircraft to cause the collapse,” Lagos State building inspector Olutoyin Ayinde said last month.

He also told the court that the guest house did not have planning permission, and that i nspections had found that several other structures on the Scoan site were structurally unsound.

Joshua, a self-styled miracle worker known to his followers as “The Prophet” and who claims he can see the future, has been summonsed to appear before the court to give evidence today.

He failed to turn up to a previous hearing and has been threatened with arrest if he again doesn’t appear.

The remains of 74 of the South Africans killed in the collapse were flown home at the weekend. – Sapa-AFP

It was impossible for the aircraft to cause the collapse