BREAKING: Court Sentences Four Owo Church Attack Suspects to Death by Hanging

A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced four of five suspects to death by hanging over their involvement in the 2022 Owo Catholic Church massacre in Ondo State.

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Delivering judgment, Justice Emeka Nwite held that the four convicted persons including Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25), Al Qasim Idris (20), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26), and Abdulhaleem Idris (25) are guilty on the nine-count charge were members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and were found guilty on all nine-count charges brought against them in connection with the attack.

The court, however, discharged and acquitted one of the five defendants, Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47), standing trial in the case.

The judgment follows the prosecution of the suspects by the Department of State Services (DSS), which had urged the court to impose the maximum penalty, arguing that the scale and brutality of the attack warranted the strongest punishment under the law.

The case arose from the June 5, 2022 terrorist attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, where over 40 worshippers were killed and several others injured during a Pentecost Sunday service.

The trial, which has attracted both national and international attention, also featured arguments from defence counsel, who had urged the court to discharge and acquit the defendants, insisting the charges were not sufficiently proven.

The Owo massacre remains one of the deadliest attacks on worshippers in Nigeria’s recent history.

Details later.