A human rights movement, the Nigerian Human Rights Community (NHRC), has said that Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka, got it wrong on his calls that Pastor Temitope Joshua should be tried by the court over the collapse of the Synagogue Church of All Nations.
In a statement, yesterday, signed by its officials, Taye Adeleye and Mark Eke Alozie, the group said the respected professor should have been armed with the correct information before making the statement.
“The trial has been ongoing. The persecutors and the defence lawyers have been arguing their cases in the law court. As we speak, Pastor Joshua and the church have not been found guilty by the court. We do not understand what other trial the learned professor is talking about,” the officials said.
Soyinka had said at a book launch that Joshua should be tried by the court over the collapse of the building.
According to the group, there are witnesses, who said they sighted a flying object few minutes before the collapse of the building. These objects could be a drone, or light helicopter adding that it is left for the court and not an individual to investigate and come up with solutions.
The officials said that given the current state of banditry and violence, those who claimed they sighted a flying object might be correct, saying: “Prof. Soyinka should be aware that terrorists in Nigeria use drone and this did not start today.
“Pastor Joshua is not above the law. That was why he has been taken to court. What we oppose is what looks like a sectarian plot to draw conclusions even when the legal processes are yet to be concluded. This raises the public fear that Pastor Joshua is a target of some influential individuals based on personal interests.”
They want to destroy him and all the good work he has been doing, especially meeting the needs of the people when relevant authorities have failed.”
The group said Pastor Joshua had made tremendous contributions to promoting the right to life and living by millions of Nigerians and black people all over the world, urging Prof. Soyinka to visit the Church and the aspect of the humanitarian services which is the best in Nigeria.
It said all victims of the unfortunate collapsed building were touched by the Church in ways the grieving families will never forget in a country where victims of accidents are left to nurse their wounds.