Owo Massacre: Prosecution Seeks Death Penalty for Suspects

A Federal High Court in Abuja reserved judgment in the Owo church massacre trial as prosecutors sought the death penalty for five suspects accused of involvement in the 2022 terrorist attack that killed 41 worshippers.

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Tuesday reserved judgment in the trial of five men accused of involvement in the June 5, 2022 terrorist attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, where 41 worshippers were killed during a Sunday service.

Presiding judge Justice Emeka Nwite fixed judgment for a date to be communicated to both parties after prosecution and defence counsel adopted their final written addresses.

Justice Nwite informed lawyers that the court would notify them once the judgment was ready, adding that the notice could come within 24 hours.

During his final submission, counsel to the Department of State Services, Ayodeji Adedipe (SAN), urged the court to convict the defendants and impose the maximum punishment of death due to the severity of the attack and the number of casualties recorded.

According to the prosecution, the evidence presented before the court established the involvement of the accused persons in the deadly church massacre, which also left more than 140 worshippers injured.

Counsel to the defendants, Abdullahi Mohammad, however, asked the court to discharge and acquit his clients, arguing that the prosecution failed to sufficiently prove the allegations against them beyond reasonable doubt.

The defendants standing trial are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris and Momoh Otuho Abubakar.

The DSS had called 11 witnesses since the commencement of the trial on August 1, 2025, in an effort to establish the charges against the suspects.

During the proceedings, the court also admitted confessional statements made by the defendants after conducting a trial-within-trial to determine whether the statements were voluntarily obtained.

The Owo church attack remains one of Nigeria’s deadliest attacks on a place of worship in recent years and triggered widespread national outrage when it occurred in Ondo State in 2022.

At the beginning of the trial, the DSS successfully applied for accelerated hearing of the matter because of its public importance and the scale of casualties recorded during the attack.