Governor Alia has visited the site of the Dunamis church collapsed building.
Glamtush reports that the Governor of Benue State, Fr Hyacinth Alia, has slammed the leadership of the Dunamis International gospel centre located at Mission Ward North Bank in Makurdi, the Benue State capital for erecting a substandard structure.
It was reported that the church collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday, killing the resident pastor, Ahmed Sunday, and injuring others.
Meanwhile, the Benue State Governor Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia has vowed to hold the church officials and the supervising ministry which allowed the structural contravention of erecting the structure – responsible for the incident.
Governor Alia made this known during his visit to the collapsed building premises where he ordered the evacuation of all those living in the adjourning buildings and along the waterways.
This is to avoid multiple casualties as parts of the church auditorium still hang in the balance.
He said the leader of the church should know the law.
“We have to locate where the leadership of the church is and to inform them that the land has been revoked because we have to save lives.
“Those living along the waterways would vacate immediately.
“So the Ministry of Works, Housing and Urban Development should step in.
“I need to know who approved this structure. We need to know the engineers or the architects who monitored this gigantic project.
“We need to stop these from happening.”
On its part, the Council for the Regulation of Engineers (COREN) led by Engineer Terna Mom told Channels Television that preliminary investigation indicates that the construction work lacks engineering design.
Dunamis Church is under the leadership of Dr. Paul Enenche.
According to sources four individuals including the pastor were observing prayers at the church building before the incident occurred.
The other three individuals escaped the wreckage.
Residential buildings and electricity infrastructure around the building were affected by the collapse.
The cause of the incident is however unclear.
