In a landmark judgment delivering long-awaited justice, a Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced four terrorists to death by hanging for their roles in the horrific June 5, 2022 Pentecost Sunday attack on St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State which left about 40 worshippers dead and several others injured.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Emeka Nwite convicted the four defendants on multiple terrorism charges, including conspiracy, membership in a terrorist group, kidnapping, hostage-taking, and executing the deadly church assault. The court held that the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt using compelling witness testimonies, phone tracking records, forensic data, and the defendants’ own confessional statements.
The judgment follows a rigorous prosecution by the Department of State Services (DSS), which successfully argued for the maximum penalty due to the unparalleled scale and brutality of the attack. The secret police maintained that the gravity of the massacre warranted the ultimate punishment under Nigerian law to serve as a stark deterrent to future terror acts.
While four of the terrorists—Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, and Abdulhaleem Idris—now face the gallows, a fifth suspect walked free. The court discharged and acquitted a 47-year-old Momoh Otuho Abubakar, citing a lack of concrete evidence pinning him to the gruesome massacre.
The death sentences follow an intense legal push by the Department of State Services (DSS), which insisted that the horror of the attack justified the absolute maximum penalty under law.
