BREAKING: Court Sentences 4 Terrorists To Death For Owo Catholic Church Attack That Killed 40, Wounded 100 Worshippers
A Federal High Court in Abuja today Wednesday sentenced four Al-Shabaab terrorist group members to death by hanging for their roles in the June 5, 2022, attack on St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.
Those found guilty on a nine‑count terrorism charge the Department of State Services (DSS) filed on behalf of the Federal Government were Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25), Al Qasim Idris (20), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26), and Abdulhaleem Idris (25).
A fifth defendant, Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47), was discharged for want of evidence linking him to the attack.
The Federal Government alleged that the convicts joined the Al-Shabaab terrorist group in 2021 and operated a cell in Kogi state.
According to the prosecution, the defendants held meetings in Kogi and Ondo in 2022, where they planned the church attack.
They were accused of detonating improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and carrying out the assault with AK-47 rifles, resulting in the deaths of over 40 people and injuries to more than 100 others.
The government said the attack was carried out to further the group’s religious ideology, offences punishable under the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Among the items the court admitted in evidence were confessional statements and a digital forensic examination report, tendered alongside a Technophone alleged to contain communications exchanged by the defendants before and after the terror attack.
Some of those that testified before the court were a Catholic priest who gave a blood-chilling account of how the assailants detonated no fewer than three explosives inside the church.
