Court Reserves Judgment In Owo Church Massacre Trial
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Tuesday reserved judgment in the trial of five men accused of orchestrating the June 5, 2022 terrorist attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, in which 41 worshippers were killed and over 140 others injured.
Presiding judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, fixed judgment for a date to be communicated to the parties after counsel for both the prosecution and defence adopted their final written addresses. The judge informed lawyers that the court would notify them once the judgment was ready, adding that the notice could come within 24 hours.
In his final address, counsel for the Department of State Services, Ayodeji Adedipe (SAN), urged the court to convict the defendants and impose the maximum sentence of death, citing the gravity of the offence allegedly committed.
Counsel for the defendants, Abdullahi Mohammad, however, prayed the court to discharge and acquit his clients, arguing that the prosecution failed to establish its case against them.
The five defendants standing trial are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris, and Momoh Otuho Abubakar.
The DSS, which had earlier sought and obtained an accelerated hearing of the matter at the commencement of trial, called 11 witnesses in the proceedings, which began on August 1, 2025, to establish the allegations against the suspects. The court had previously admitted the defendants’ confessional statements after conducting a trial within trial to determine whether the statements were voluntarily made.
The Owo attack remains one of the deadliest assaults on a place of worship in Nigeria’s recent history. Armed assailants stormed the church premises during Sunday mass and opened fire on congregants, plunging the community into mourning and triggering heightened security operations across the country. The incident drew widespread national and international condemnation, including statements from the Vatican, the United Nations, and several foreign governments.
At the time of the massacre, Ondo State was under the administration of the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, who described the attack as a “deliberate, vicious and calculated assault on peace loving people.” He called for urgent federal intervention to strengthen security in vulnerable communities and personally led state level emergency responses, including hospital visits to surviving victims and coordination of relief efforts for affected families.
Following investigations by security agencies, the DSS identified and arraigned the five suspects now standing trial. The Federal Government had earlier linked the attack to the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), although the trial itself has focused on the specific charges brought against the accused persons under Nigeria’s counter terrorism laws.
The forthcoming judgment is expected to bring a measure of legal closure to a tragedy that profoundly shook Nigeria’s religious and security landscape, with families of victims, the Catholic community, and the broader public awaiting the court’s final pronouncement.