2022 OWO CHURCH MASSACRE: DSS gains court’s consent to shield witnesses
A federal high court in Abuja has granted an application by the Department of State Service (DSS) to shield its witnesses in the trial of five suspects.
The suspects were allegedly involved in the murder of over 40 worshippers at St Francis Catholic Church, Owo in Ondo state.
It will be recalled that On 5 June 2022, a mass shooting and bomb attack occurred at a Catholic church in the city of Owo in Ondo State, Nigeria. During the attack, at least 40 people were killed, with the highest estimates being around 80.
There were rising speculations in the federal government of Nigeria that the Islamic State – West Africa Province of were responsible for the massacre.
Subsequently, an Episcopal Requiem Mass had been held in honour of the scores of victims killed during the massacre on Friday, June 17 at Midas Event Centre, Owo, Ondo State with church members, top government functionaries, families, friends and relatives in attendance.
Granting the request by the DSS, Emeka Nwite, the judge, acceded to the request on Tuesday after Calistus Eze, DSS counsel, debated the motion which was not opposed by the defence lawyer, Abdullahi Muhammad.
Eze told the court that the measure became necessary in view of threats against potential witnesses in the case.
On June 5, 2022, gunmen attacked the church, shooting at worshippers from point-blank range.
The suspects are Idris Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris and Momoh Otuho Abubakar.
On August 11, they were arraigned on a nine-count charge filed by the attorney-general of the federation (AGF).
The suspects and others who are at large were accused of joining the Al-Shabaab terrorist group in the year 2021.
They were alleged to have their “cell in Kogi and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 25(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022″.
Furthermore , the federal government asserted that the suspects held meetings at the Government Secondary School, Ogamirana, Adavi LGA in Kogi, and behind Omialafa Central Mosque, Ose LGA, Ondo in 2022, wherein they strategies on how to perpetrate the crime on June 5, 2022.
The defendants were alleged to have, on June 5, with intent to cause death, detonated improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which led to the death of over 40 persons, including Ajanaku John, Onuoha Deborah, Onileke Esther, and John Bosede.
They were also alleged to have, on June 5, at St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, with intent to further their religious ideology and while armed with IEDs and AK 47 rifles, attacked worshippers, held them hostage and in the process, caused grievous bodily harm to over 100 persons, including Onileke Ayodele, John Blessing, Nselu Esther and Ogungbade Peter.
The offence is said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 42 (a)(ii) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022.
Earlier, a report by Reuters, on August 11, pointed out that a Nigerian prosecutor on Monday arraigned five men accused of carrying out the dastardly Islamist militant attack on the Catholic church in Owo, in the southwestern Ondo state.
According to the publication, the sordid attack claimed that lives of at least 50 worshippers in 2022 and wounded over 100 others.
The suspects – Idris Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris and Momoh Otuho Abubakar – appeared before a federal high court in Abuja, where they were charged under Nigeria’s terrorism law.
Furthermore, the publication stated that,
Judge Emeka Nwite adjourned the start of the trial to August 19, a trial which aims to test the ability of the government to prosecute cases tied to terrorism.
This is even as Nigeria tussles with insurgencies and widespread insecurity.
Meanwhile, according to court filings, the men allegedly joined the East African terrorist group, Al Shabaab in 2021 and plotted the assault at a public school in central Nigeria and near a mosque 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) from Owo’s St Francis Catholic Church.
