Society Gists

A Lagos High Court in Igbosere Tuesday rejected an international passport tendered by Shola Olumofe, the second defendant in the March 8, 2016 Lekki Gardens building collapse which killed five people.

Justice Sybil Nwaka observed that the passport presented in fulfilment of Olumofe’s bail differed from what was previously shown to the court.

Last June 14, Olumofe was docked after a failed bid to prevent his arraignment on the ground, among others, of lack of jurisdiction.

Explaining Olumofe’s absence for previous proceedings, Oguntade said his client arrived in Nigeria a day earlier following weeks of treatment in The United Kingdom for Type 2 Diabetes and high cholesterol.

But Justice Nwaka demanded for his international passport as proof of the trip.

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) T. K, Shitta-Bey also observed that the Olumofe in the dock was not the Olumofe who received the charge from the prosecution.

She said the man in the dock was unknown to the prosecution team. Shitta-Bey identified another man sitting in the gallery as Olumofe.

However, this was resolved when the Olumofe in the dock was identified as a sibling of the man in the gallery.

After two more adjournments following Olumofe’s challenge of the court’s jurisdiction and competence of the charge, he and seven others, including three firms, were arraigned on Monday.

They were accused of failing to obtain a building permit for the six-storey building and involuntary manslaughter.