Owo Church Attack Suspect Alleges DSS Threats
A suspect standing trial over the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, has told a Federal High Court in Abuja that a Department of State Services officer threatened to feed his corpse to crocodiles if he refused to confess to involvement in the massacre.
Al-Qasim Idris, one of five defendants facing prosecution over the deadly church attack, made the allegation on Wednesday while testifying before Justice Emeka Nwite.
Idris alleged that he was subjected to threats, coercion and maltreatment while in DSS custody after his arrest.
According to his testimony, he spent three days in hospital as a result of the treatment he received before he was later moved to an underground cell, where a female DSS officer questioned him about the attack.
“She asked for my name, and I told her. She asked me what my offence was and why I was arrested. I told her I didn’t do anything. She said I was lying and not telling her the truth. I told her I was saying the truth, I didn’t do anything, and I was innocent,” Idris told the court.
He said the officer then warned him that he could remain in detention for decades without his family knowing his whereabouts and allegedly threatened that if he died in custody, his body would be fed to crocodiles.
Idris also alleged that another DSS operative, whom he identified as Segun Kayode, told him there were orders to kill him but that he was being given “one chance” to speak.
“He told me he had seen my case file, and they were ordered to go and kill me, but he wanted to give me this one chance. ‘Who knows, you may decide to tell us the truth’,” Idris said in court.
The defendant further told the court that he was made to respond to a written statement and instructed to answer “yes” to some questions and “I don’t know” to others.
He said investigators also questioned him over personal information, including a contact saved on his phone as “Aunty.”
Addressing phone location data allegedly placing him near the church at the time of the attack, Idris said although his SIM card showed a nearby area, Omi-Alafia, he and his father were actually at their farm in Elegbeka, which he said was within walking distance.
The DSS is prosecuting Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al-Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris, and Momoh Otuho Abubakar over the attack.
The Owo church massacre, which happened during a Pentecost Sunday service, left at least 50 worshippers dead and more than 70 others injured after gunmen armed with explosives and firearms stormed the church.
The federal government has blamed the attack on the Islamic State West Africa Province, although that position has remained disputed in some quarters.
Justice Nwite adjourned the matter to March 26 for continuation of trial.