Counsel to the Engineers, Oluwaseun Abimbola, told the court that they were absent because they were not served with court papers. Reacting to this position, the Lagos State's Attorney General, Adeniji Kazeem said no valid physical addresses were found for the contractors, which he said was reason that the Ministry of Justice could not locate or serve the court papers.
The presiding judge ordered that proper court notices be served to the engineers within 72 hours, and advised their counsel to inform them to take the court proceedings seriously as their trial is of a criminal case. 117 people, mostly Nigerians and South Africans, died in the Church building collapse.
