Akwa Ibom State Government has defend the pastor whose church building collapsed and killed 27 persons in 2016, said he is not responsible for the collapse.
The tragic incident occurred during the consecration ceremony of the founder and pastor of Reigners Bible Church, Uyo, Akan Weeks, as a bishop.
When the incident occurred, the church building was still under construction which killed 27 and 37 injured.
while additional number of people died later from injuries. The state governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, who was one of the guests at the church ceremony, narrowly escaped unhurt.
The state government, in a white paper released yesterday, rejected the pastor’s indictment by the commission of inquiry it set up to probe the incident.
The commission, headed by a retired judge, Umoekoyo Essang, 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’s) adamant posture of unbridled impunity as the General Overseer of Reigners Bible Church led to the unfortunate incident of 10 December, 2016,” the commission’s report said.
The commission said the church didn’t get government permit for the building construction and that construction work was rushed with impunity to have the event take place in an uncompleted building site.
