A Lagos State High Court sitting in Igbosere has issued a bench warrant against Sola Olumofe, one of the contractors who handled building constructions at Lekki Garden Estate Limited.
A five-storey building within the estate had collapsed on March 10, 2016 killing over 30 people.
Lagos government then dragged the estate’s Managing Director, Richard Nyong and five other contractors before Justice Sybil Nwaka over alleged negligence.
Other defendants are Taiwo Odofin, Omolabake Mortune, Marius Agwu and Omotilewa Joseph. They are standing trial alongside their companies, Lekki Gardens Estate Ltd, GT Rich Ltd and HC Insight Solutions Ltd.
Olumofe, however, failed to appear before the court on two consecutive occasions leading to the issuance of bench warrant on Thursday by the presiding judge, Justice Nwaka.
The contractor was accused of putting additional floor to the building against what was approved by government for construction.
The defendants are facing six-count charges for failure to obtain building approval for the collapsed building and manslaughter, offences punishable under Section 75 of the Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law of Lagos State 2010 and Section 224 of Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015 respectively.
At the last adjourned date, Olumofe had failed to appear before the court, while the matter was adjourned to June for arraignment.
But he again equally failed to present himself for arraignment, a development which prompted Justice Nwaka to issue bench warrant for his arrest.
