The Department of State Services (DSS) on Thursday arraigned five suspects before the Federal High Court in Abuja in connection with the June 5, 2022, attack on St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State. The assault resulted in the death of over 40 worshippers and left more than 100 others injured.
The accused individuals prosecuted by the secret police are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25), Al Qasim Idris (20), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26), Abdulhaleem Idris (25), and Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47). The court granted an application for an accelerated hearing of the case.
The trial commenced with the DSS presenting its first prosecution witness, a Catholic priest whose identity was shielded for security reasons. He recounted the horrific events of Pentecost Sunday, describing it as a day forever seared into his memory.
Led in evidence by prosecuting lawyer Ayodeji Adedipe (SAN), the priest, who presided over the service, told the court the attack began as the mass was concluding. “I was performing the last rite and the people of God have started singing the recessional hymn, the closing hymn. Suddenly I heard a loud sound,” he testified.
He described initial confusion, thinking someone had fallen, before two congregants locked the main doors and an elder alerted him, “Father, we are under attack.” This was followed by sporadic gunshots from outside the church building.
The witness detailed his reluctant decision to leave the sanctuary, motivated by a need to protect children present. “If not for anything, but at least, because of those children, who call me father,” he stated. He and other adults moved a group of children to an attached safe place, a restroom, as the violence escalated.
“From this point, I heard the sporadic shooting of guns… When I was in this place, I continued to hear the continuous shooting of guns and the use of about three explosives,” he said. The third explosion landed terrifyingly close, with an effect “like the ground opening to swallow us immediately.”
After the attackers departed, the priest emerged to a scene of carnage. He found his choir master shot in the chest, who asked for prayers. “When I got out, I saw some already dead on the floor,” he testified. He then helped organize the transport of the wounded to hospitals, making two trips to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owo, where the emergency ward was soon overwhelmed with casualties.
“The casualties were those that were killed and injured. With the wailing, weeping and crying from people, I couldn’t even drive again,” he recounted. When asked if he counted the dead, he invoked a poignant proverb: “It was with that violent attack that I understood that proverb that the one struck or hit by a vehicle does not wait to take note of the vehicle’s number. So, I could not immediately count the number of those dead.”
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Abdullahi Mohammad, the witness clarified that he could not identify the assailants or ascertain their number due to the chaos and his focus on rescue efforts. “With the commotion in the church, and my desire to rescue, especially the children as quickly as possible, I could not and I did not identify or recognise those who carried out the attack,” he stated.
Earlier in the proceedings, the prosecution amended the charge to correct minor errors. The amended charge was read to the defendants, who all pleaded not guilty.
Justice Emeka Nwite has adjourned the case until January 13 and 14, 2026, for the continuation of the hearing.
