A Federal High Court in Abuja has reserved judgment to a date to be communicated to parties in the ongoing trial of five men being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) for their alleged involvement in the June 5, 2022 attack on the St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.
Justice Emeka Nwite announced this on Tuesday after taking final arguments from lawyers to the prosecution and the defence.
He adjourned indefinitely, but told lawyers to parties that they would receive notice from the court once the judgment was ready. He said the notice could be within 24 hours.
While adopting his final address, lawyer to the prosecution, Ayodeji Adedipe (SAN) urged the court to convict the defendants and impose the maximum sentence of death in view of the enormity of the crime they allegedly committed.
While adumbrating, Adedipe said the case has to do with the dastardly attack on the St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State on June 5, 2022 in which over 40 persons were killed and over 100 were critically injured.
He noted that the facts of the attack, the death, the injuries recorded and even the destruction of the church building were not in dispute, because they were established by the prosecution and not controverted by the defence.
Adedipe added: “The only dispute is that the defendants, who have been charged for various acts of terrorism, pleaded not guilty and denied their involvement.
“The first to fourth defendants made voluntary and positive confessional statements and that was why there was no trial within trial in this case, because their confessional statements were voluntary.
“The attempt to retract their confessional statements failed woefully because, as was shown on the face of the statements and established before the court, the first to fourth defendants signed and thumb printed these statements.
“Throughout the trial, they did not deny the signatures and the thumb prints on their respective statements. They never denied throughout.
“The investigation and forensic reports, which pinned the defendants to the Owo attack, were never challenged by them.
The court’s record will show that the second and fourth defendants were identified in court by eye witnesses, whose evidence were not discredited.
“As for the fifth defendant, he did not make a confessional statement. He wrote his statement by himself and what he stated was consistent with the prosecution’s case against him, that he was not physically present at the scene of the attack.
“The evidence against him (fifth defendant) is that he sponsored the attack and that the money found in his account is part of the money he used to sponsor the attack.
“He could not justify the source of the money found in his account as shown in the evidence before the court.
“For these reasons that I had adumbrated, and the fuller reasons in the final address, we submit that the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt against the defendants, particularly on the strength of the first to fourth defendants’ confessional statements,” Adedipe said.
The prosecuting lawyer noted that the offences for which the defendants are charged are offences under the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act.
He states that the combined effect of the provision of the law is that where death occurs, either as a result of direct or indirect act of the defendant, the maximum punishment, which is death, must be imposed by the court.
Adedipe noted that the prosecution has established that over 40 people died in the attack, adding that “having established that the defendants were involved, the death sentence must apply.”
The prosecuting lawyer, who further noted that the country was currently battling with the effect of terrorism, prayed the court not only to convict the defendants, but to impose the maximum sentence of death.”
However, lawyer to the defendants, Abdullahi Mohammad prayed the court to discharge and acquit his clients on the grounds that the prosecution was unable to establish its case against them.
Unlike Adedipe, Muhammad did not adumbrate. He only adopted the final address he filed for the five defendants and urged the court to discharge and acquit them.
The five men are: Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris and Momoh Otuho Abubakar.
As reported by Tribune, the Department of State Services (DSS) is prosecuting Idris Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris and Momoh Abubakar on a nine-count charge bordering on terrorism.
The trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, reserved judgment in the matter after lawyers to the prosecution and defence adopted their final written addresses and presented their arguments.
Justice Nwite announced that judgment was reserved to a date to be communicated to the parties in the matter.
The judge told the lawyers for the parties that they would receive notice from the court once the judgment was ready, adding that the notice could come within 24 hours.
It would be recalled that 41 worshippers were killed during the attack on the church, while over 140 others suffered various injuries.
The DSS called 11 witnesses to establish the allegations against the defendants in the trial that began on August 1, 2025.
The defendants were apprehended in August 2022 at different locations in Kogi and Ondo States.
The trial court admitted the confessional statements of the defendants following a trial-within-trial conducted to determine whether the statements were voluntarily made.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris and Momoh Otuho Abubakar, adults, males, with others still at large, on 05/06/2022, at St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, did detonate Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) which caused grievous bodily harm to over 100 persons, including Onuchukwu Happiness, Ogungbade Vivian and Nnakwe Paschaline Ugochinyerem, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 42(a)(i) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
The Nation/ Tribune
