The Akwa Ibom State government has absolved the pastor whose church building collapsed and supposedly killed 27 people in the state on Saturday, December 10, 2016 from culpability of any crime.
The tragic incident occurred during the bishopric consecration ceremony of the founder and pastor of Reigners’ Bible Church Int’l Inc, along Uyo Village Road, Uyo, Apostle Akan Weeks.
The state Governor, Udom Emmanuel, who was a special guest at the ceremony, escaped unhurt while Charles Udoh, commissioner for Information and Strategy and Sir Etekamba Umoren, then Secretary to the State Government, Linus Nkang, then state Accountant-General and Ekerete Udoh, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, among other personalities were injured.
The white paper dated November 2017, signed by Governor Emmanuel and Ekerebong Akpan, head of Civil Service and released on Monday, April 9, 2018, rejected the pastor’s indictment by the commission of inquiry it set up to investigate the incident.
The seven-man commission of Inquiry, headed by Umoekoyo Essang, a retired judge, said in its report that the pastor’s “undue interference” in the construction work led to the collapse of the church building.
“His (Mr Week) adamant posture of unbridled impunity as the Founder/General Overseer of Reigners’ Bible Church led to the unfortunate incident of 10 December, 2016,” the commission had said in the report.
The commission said the church didn’t get government permit for the building construction and that the construction work was rushed with impunity to have the event take place in an uncompleted building site.
The state government in rejecting the recommendation of the commission, said: “Facts available indicate that Apostle (Dr.) Akan Weeks relied on the professionals he engaged.
“It is the obligation of the professionals to execute due care and skill in the discharge of their duties or resign where they are not allowed to do so,” referring all cases of professional negligence to Ministry of Justice for appropriate action.
The government also rejected the commission’s report that the Uyo Capital City Development Authority (UCCDA) was remotely responsible for the building collapse for failing to stop the construction work after issuing a ‘stop work’ order.
But the government accepted the commission’s recommendation that the head of planning at the UCCDA, Effiong Akpan, should be punished by the agency.
Two persons who were involved in the building construction are to be prosecuted by the state’s Ministry of Justice for their culpability, according to the white paper.
The building collapse, the white paper said, was due to unprofessionalism and negligence.
Before now, Mr. Inibehe Effiong, a Lagos-based Legal Practitioner and Human Rights Activist, had slammed a lawsuit against the Governor of Akwa Ibom State and the Attorney General of Akwa Ibom State seeking the leave of the court to compel the state government to release the Report and White Paper of the Judicial Commission of the Inquiry into the Reigners’ Bible Church building collapse.
The case which was filed on Tuesday, March 27, 2018 at the High Court of Akwa Ibom State in Uyo as Suit No. HU/MISC/106/2018 was brought pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.
No date was fixed for the hearing of the application.
Sunday Punch on December 11, 2016 reported that the incident left about 200 worshippers dead while many sustained injuries.
According to the newspaper, Mrs. Yenime Ekpo, who is a mother to one of the victims, Tony Brown, 46, with six children, said they were worshiping in the church when the building collapsed.
She stated that Brown was trapped in the rubble for many hours along with others before she was rescued.
Unsure of her son’s survival, Mrs. Ekpo noted that they were not members of the church but only went to witness the ordination.
Also, Uduak Effiong, a student of the University of Uyo, Department of Communication Arts, said she lost three of her course mates to the incident.
She stated that when the building collapsed, a pillar fell upon a woman and tore her body.
She said, “I saw over 100 dead bodies. These were the ones close to me. From my estimation, more than 300 people might have died as people came from other churches in all parts of the state, including government-sponsored praised singers with uniforms to attend the programme. For some of us that escaped, we only did by the special grace of God.”
Another student of the University of Uyo, Jennifer Thomas, told our correspondent that one of her friends, Blessing Linus, was trapped in the debris.
Prof. Etete Peters, the then Chief Medical Director of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, said of the 50 cases treated in the treatment, only one person died.
Peters said about 200 persons were brought to the hospital dead, adding that the hospital had never prepared for such an emergency.
He said, “We only lost one person in the hospital except those that were brought dead. In circumstances like this, we have been overwhelmed. We need help from government.
“Many victims are in private hospitals and mortuaries scattered all over Uyo metropolis; we can’t really tell how many people have died so far. We have over 200 persons in the mortuaries. We do not have space as people are still being brought in.’’
“We have done our best to revive some victims. Right now, we have over 50 cases we are attending to. This is the first time we are witnessing such an incident.’’
At St. Athanasius Hospital Limited, a nurse told our correspondent that one person was brought to the hospital dead but the relatives were asked to take the corpse away.
Most injured were treated at Akwa Ibom Specialist Hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital, Anua, Lifecare Hospital and Clinc, Sifon Hospital and other private hospitals and clinics in Uyo metropolis.
The commission was inaugurated by Governor Emmanuel on Tuesday, December 26, 2016 at the Executive chambers of Governor’s Office, Uyo, but it submitted its report on June 22, 2017 to the governor.
