The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday sentenced four members of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group to death by hanging for their role in the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State. The attack left more than 40 worshippers dead and over 100 others injured during a Pentecost service.

Trial judge Justice Emeka Nwite convicted Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, 25; Al Qasim Idris, 20; Jamiu Abdulmalik, 26; and Abdulhaleem Idris, 25 on all nine counts of terrorism filed by the Department of State Services on behalf of the Federal Government. The court, however, discharged and acquitted the fifth defendant, Momoh Otuho Abubakar, 47, after ruling that the prosecution failed to establish sufficient evidence linking him to the attack.

Delivering judgment, Justice Nwite held that the DSS successfully proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. He said evidence before the court established that the four convicts were principal members of an Al-Shabaab cell operating in Kogi State and actively participated in planning and executing the assault. The court noted they used IEDs and AK-47 rifles, stormed the church, held worshippers hostage and unleashed coordinated violence that caused mass casualties.

The prosecution presented 11 witnesses and 23 exhibits, including confessional statements and a digital forensic report from a mobile device allegedly used by the defendants. A Catholic priest who survived the massacre also testified how multiple explosions threw worshippers into chaos as they tried to escape. Justice Nwite ruled that the totality of the evidence firmly connected the convicts to the massacre.

The June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church drew global condemnation and remains one of the deadliest terrorist incidents in Nigeria in recent years. Authorities initially blamed ISWAP, though the convicts were linked to Al-Shabaab’s Kogi State cell by the DSS.

Sources verified: Sahara Reporters, Punch Newspapers, New Telegraph, NUJ FCT