The Federal High Court in Abuja heard from one of five people who the Department of State Services (DSS) says carried out the June 5, 2022 attack on the St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State. He told the court how he was caught by the secret police.
Reports from Daily Independent say that 41 people who were worshiping at the church were killed and more than 140 others were hurt in the incident.
The DSS has called 11 witnesses to prove the claims against the accused in the trial that started on August 1, 2025.
After the trial-within-a-trial to prove that the witnesses’ statements were supplied freely, the trial court let the prisoners’ confessions be used.
Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25 years), Al Qasim Idris (20 years), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26 years), Abdulhaleem Idris (25 years), and Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47 years) are the five people who are being charged.
Omeiza’s lawyer, Abdullahi Muhammad, led him in evidence yesterday during a fast-tracked session requested by the DSS.
Omeiza said he was an auxiliary nurse, but he preferred to give his testimony in Ebira, which made the court look for an interpreter.
Omeiza informed the court, which was led by Justice Emeka Nwite, that he was arrested on August 1, 2022, together with two other young boys named Hauwa and Yusuf, at the same house.
“The night I was arrested, I would wake up in the morning to read my book. It was 2:20 in the morning when I woke up and read.
“I heard noises when I woke up. I dropped the book I was reading, opened my window, and looked out. I noticed a group of individuals putting on black clothes and hiding their faces. “They broke down the door and came in,” he said.
“They were looking for my older brother, Jamiu.” There is a door near my room, and there were two little boys there. He stated they arrested them and supplied the boys’ names as Awal and Yusuf.
The defendant said in a long statement to the court that he met the fifth defendant, Momoh Otuho Abubakar, in the DSS facility in Lokoja, the state capital. He had also been arrested by secret police.
Omeiza told the DSS office in Lokoja that the four of them were confined in a room where their names, schools, jobs, and father’s name were documented and stored.
The defendant alleged that the next day, he gave a statement and was held until August 18, 2022, when he learned that his older brother had also been detained.
He also informed the court that until they were relocated to Ondo State on August 18, 2022, the DSS didn’t say anything to him about the Owo Catholic Church attack or his involvement in ISWAP or any other terrorist group.
Omeiza said that he and his older brother were held in the Ondo State DSS headquarters office in the same room where interrogators asked them about the attack on the Owo Catholic Church.
The next hearing has been moved to tomorrow, March 6, so they can continue their defense.
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