By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
Hope by victims of the ill-fated incident at Reigners Bible Church in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State that an independent report (white paper) will be issued soon to enable them seek legal redress for compensation over their huge loss incurred, may be a mirage.
This is sequel to fact that months after it concluded investigation on the incident, which claimed scores of life and injured several people, the independent commission of inquiry set up by the state government, is yet to submit its report.
The commission chaired by retired Chief Judge, Justice Umoekoyo Essang, was inaugurated by Governor Udom Emmanuel, to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of that tragedy which occurred during the bishopric ordination of Church’s founder, Apostle Akan Weeks on December 10, 2016.
According to eyewitnesses, Governor Emmanuel, his commissioners and some aides at the government house, were among several persons who escaped death, by the whiskers.
Worried by the development, the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Akwa Ibom chapter, which represented the deaths and the injured at the commission, frowned at government failure, to make the report public, alleging compromise on the side of government and the commission.
Addressing reporters on the matter in Uyo at the weekend, the CLO chairman in the state, Mr. Clifford Thomas, faulted the Justice Essang-led commission, saying “the commission never followed the due process before the proceedings ended”.
According to him, “the commission should not wind down without proper records of proceedings. The commission must come up with the records of proceedings for lawyers who appeared in the commission to address them before submitting it to government”, he stressed.
The human rights lawyers, who picked holes in the collation of the deaths and the injured, disclosed that “no mention of the children were made in the collation of victims of the tragedy”, wondering why such omission could be made when children formed bulk of the dead in the accident.
“We are representing the human rights community in Akwa Ibom, we are waiting for the report, and if we are not satisfied with what they are going to put out, we will have no other option than to release our own report and pass same to other human rights organisations in and outside Nigeria”, he said.
CLO, he added, would not hesitate to take the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), to seek justice for the estate of the dead, especially concerning the fact that “several dead persons and the injured ones are not properly compensated”.
The position of CLO, according to him stemmed from complaints by bereaved families who accused the Church and government of not living up to expectations in providing succour to the victims.
Besides, Thomas accused the Church of deliberate plot to suppress information regarding the actual number of persons that died in the incident.
“A member of the Church told us (CLO) that the Pastor begged that many of them who were injured in the accident should not disclose their real names”, Thomas said, saying they would stop at nothing to unravel the real truth behind tragedy.
It would be recalled that many families have lost their bread-winners to the sad incident. mostly affected are children who are left in the mercy of the spirited members of the public to feed.
