The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR) on Monday urged the Federal and Lagos State Governments to investigate and account for the identities of the helicopter and strange plane which flew low over the collapsed building at Synagogue church four times within 24 minutes.

In a statement issued and signed by the National President and National Treasurer, Comrade Sunny Enenuvwedia and Deji Adebowale, the Committee further urged the Federal and state governments to also find out the mission and those responsible for the helicopter and plane.
The helicopter and plane were said to have flew low over the synagogue hotel and minutes after that, the building crumpled.

According to the CDHR, if FG and the governments fail to embark on investigation, it will, “call on the African Union and the United Nations to as a matter of urgency compel the Federal government to do so.”
The statement read that consequent upon it findings on the cause of the tragedy that befell the country and others foreign countries, “we deem it necessary to demand that the Lagos State Government should conduct investigation into the structural cause (if any) of the collapse of the building as a matter of urgency.

“That the Federal Government of Nigeria should, within 48 hours, account for the identities of the helicopter and the strange plane which flew low over the building four times within 24 minutes. The authority of the Synagogue Church of All Nations should cooperate with appropriate authorities to get to the root cause of the unfortunate incident and that every person and institution in Nigeria should be more security conscious.”

Speaking to newsmen while inspecting the site of the collapsed building, Comrade Enenuvwedia wondered why the presidential committee set up to look into the circumstances surrounding the incident is yet to release a report. He observed that the essence of the solidarity rally is to ensure that justice is done bearing in mind the international implications of the incident which claimed the lives of foreign nationals.
“Why has it taken the government so long to unravel what happened here,” Enenuvwedia questioned. “Even though I am a layman, I know these foundations are very solid,” he said, standing before the huge foundations of the collapsed building.

“All we are hearing is let the man of God come to court,” he continued. “For what? What is the reason for that? Is it not the building that collapsed? We don’t believe in ethnicity or politicizing issues. We have to attend to issues the way they are. They should allow the man of God to remain where he is and do the work God has assigned to him. Enough of humiliating TB Joshua – CDHR will not stand and see that happen. We will continue to fight for the rights of all Nigerians. We have demanded that the government release this report within two weeks. Let the whole world know the reason for this action.”

The group circulated flyers that questioned many issues pertaining to the collapsed building. For instance, the flyer carried the following questions: who owns the plane that crossed over The Synagogue building several times? Who is the pilot of the plane? Why is the Federal Government quiet about what happened?

According to the statement, “In view of the ramification of this event, the CDHR has set up a committee to follow up on the above demands and fully investigate the entirety of the incident and produce a full report later.”
CDHR noted that immediately after the incident, it has commenced investigation into the incident by contacting its members living in the area and have received information from them as to their account and observations of what happened on the day.
“We also visited the site of the collapsed building and interviewed some resident of the Church. We also viewed a CCTV record of the situation of the environment before and up to the time of the collapse of the building.”

It also observed from the findings that the compound of the Synagogue Church of All Nations housing the collapsed is located on Segun Irefin Street, Ikotun-Egbe, Nigeria on Latitude 6.54679N and Longitude 3.27261E.”
It further states that the location is far from any approach to the Ikeja or any airport in Lagos hence it was abnormal for any plane to head for the location at all.
Every plane approaching the Ikeja Airport to land always approach from the direction of Ijoko-Sango-Ota axis. Even planes that have not been given permission to land by the control tower of the airport in Ikeja always hover above the Papa-Lanto road and the Redemption Camp on Lagos Ibadan Expressway.
Such planes have never been known to hover around the Ikotun-Egbe area based on the fact that the location is far from the approach to the Ikeja Airport said the statement.

“The mission of the helicopter to the residence of Pastor T. B. Joshua, around 8am is very suspicious and it appears it was there to confirm the location of his residence for unknown reasons and the mission of the strange plane that flew and circled the collapsed building four times within 24 minutes also is very suspicious and is a cause for concern.”
It emphasised, “We know that only the Federal Ministry of Aviation and the Nigerian Air Force has the authority to permit any kind of plane to fly over any part of the Nigerian Airspace for whatever purpose hence only the Federal Government can account for the identity and mission of both the helicopter and the plane.

“The collapse of the building has resulted in the violation of the rights to life, privacy and property of the victims and the Church, hence we believe such terrible incident should never be allowed to pass without proper investigation to ascertain those responsible for the incident as the true cause is still in the realm of conjecture”.