An aviation group– Civil Aviation Round Table– has asked a Federal High Court in Lagos to nullify the proceedings of the ongoing coroner's inquest into the June 3 Dana Air plane crash.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 153 passengers and some residents of Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos State, where the plane crashed, lost their lives in the incident.
A Lagos Coroner, Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, had on June 18 began an inquest to unravel the cause of the crash and had summoned various witnesses to testify.
However, on Monday, Komolafe was forced to adjourn the inquest indefinitely, after he was served with the processes of the suit filed by the aviation group and its president, retired Capt. Dele Ore.
The suit, which was filed on behalf of the claimants by their counsel, Mr Joseph Nwobike (SAN), is challenging the powers of the coroner to investigate deaths arising from aviation accidents.
?Komolafe is the first defendant in the suit which will be heard on Sept. 6 before Justice Okon Abang.
Other defendants in the suit are the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Ayotunde Philips; the Chief Coroner of the state, Justice Lateefat Okunnu; and the state Attorney-General, Mr Ade Ipaye.
Also joined are the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Federal Ministry of Aviation, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB).
Other defendants include the Nigeria Airspace Management Authority (NAMA), and Dana Airlines Ltd.
The claimants asked the court for an order setting aside the proceedings already concluded by the inquest till date, arguing that the coroner lacked the requisite authority to conduct the inquest.
They also want the court to nullify all the testimonies given by experts and witnesses at the inquest, claiming that it contravened Section 29 of the Civil Aviation Act No. 6 of 2006.
In its response to the originating summons, the Lagos State Ministry of Justice– through its counsel– Mrs Olawunmi Osibanjo, urged the court to dismiss the suit.
Osibanjo said the claimants were not in any way affected by the ongoing inquest, adding that the Aviation Round Table was not one of the bodies created by the NCAA Act. Cap N94, Laws of Federation, 2004.
?She said the coroner had received evidence from witnesses relating only to the circumstance of the death of the victims of the crash and not the technical issues of the operations of the aircraft. (NAN)