Court sentences four Owo Church attackers to death, acquits one suspect

A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced four men convicted over the deadly attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, to death by hanging.

Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Justice Emeka Nwite found the four defendants guilty on all nine counts of terrorism-related charges brought against them by the Department of State Services (DSS).

The convicts – Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, 25; Al Qasim Idris, 20; Jamiu Abdulmalik, 26; and Abdulhaleem Idris, 25 – were ordered to be hanged until death for their roles in the attack that shocked the nation.

However, the court discharged and acquitted the fifth defendant, Momoh Otuho Abubakar, 47, after finding insufficient evidence to sustain the charges against him.

The judgment brings to a close a high-profile terrorism trial arising from the June 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, where gunmen struck during a church service, killing dozens of worshippers and leaving many others injured.

According to court records, at least 41 people lost their lives while 69 others sustained injuries when the attackers stormed the church and detonated explosives, causing panic and devastation among the congregation.

Following investigations, the DSS arrested the five suspects and subsequently arraigned them before the Federal High Court on a nine-count charge bordering on terrorism and related offences.

During the trial, which commenced on August 1, 2025, the prosecution called 11 witnesses in a bid to establish the involvement of the defendants in the attack.

A significant aspect of the proceedings was the admission of confessional statements made by the accused persons. The court had conducted a trial-within-trial to determine whether the statements were obtained voluntarily before eventually admitting them as evidence.

After the prosecution and defence teams adopted their final written addresses and presented their closing arguments last week, Justice Nwite reserved judgment.

In his ruling on Wednesday, the judge upheld the prosecution’s case against four of the defendants, holding that the evidence presented before the court proved their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

The acquittal of the fifth defendant, Momoh Abubakar, followed the court’s finding that the prosecution failed to sufficiently link him to the offences alleged in the charge sheet.

The Owo church attack remains one of the deadliest assaults on a place of worship in Nigeria’s recent history and sparked widespread outrage, with calls for stronger measures to tackle terrorism and violent extremism across the country.