…Discharges, Acquits Fifth Defendant
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday convicted four men accused by the Department Department of State Services (DSS) of carrying out the June 2022 terrorist attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, in which over 40 worshippers were killed.
The court sentenced the four men to death by hanging.
Delivering judgement, the trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite said the prosecution proved the case of terrorism successfully against the four men beyond reasonable doubt. He, however, discharged and acquitted the fifth accused person- 47-year-old Momoh Otuho Abubakar.
Four out of the five suspects initially arraigned were convicted on all nine counts preferred against them by the federal government. They are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, 25, Al Qasim Idris, 20, Jamiu Abdulmalik, 26 and Abdulhaleem Idris, 25.
The convicts — Idris Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris, and Momoh Otuho Abubakar — were arraigned on August 11, 2022, on a nine-count terrorism charge.
Nwite held that evidence before the court established that the four convicts belonged to and actively participated in the activities of the terrorist group, which included the church attack.
The federal government alleged that the suspects 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 States 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.
In the nine-count terrorism charge, the DSS accused the convicts of being members of foreign terror groups and being responsible for the Owo massacre.