A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced four men to death by hanging for their roles in the 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, an assault that killed dozens of worshippers and shocked the nation.
Justice Emeka Nwite delivered the judgment on Wednesday after finding the defendants guilty on a nine-count charge that included hostage-taking, kidnapping, terrorism financing, and the detonation of explosives that caused deaths and injuries.
The court convicted Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, and Abdulhaleem Idris on multiple counts related to the attack. However, the judge acquitted a fifth defendant after ruling that prosecutors failed to provide sufficient evidence against him.
The four convicted men had pleaded not guilty when the trial began.
The judgment is expected to serve as a significant test of Nigeria’s capacity to successfully prosecute terrorism-related cases as the country continues to battle insurgencies and widespread insecurity.
Besides the death sentences, the court imposed life imprisonment on the four men for belonging to a terrorist organisation. The judge also sentenced each of them to 20 years in prison for conspiracy.
According to court documents, the defendants allegedly joined the East African militant group al Shabaab in 2021 and planned attacks on other targets, including a public school in central Nigeria and an area near a mosque located about 30 kilometres from Owo.
Although prosecutors linked the defendants to al Shabaab, the militant group never claimed responsibility for the June 2022 church attack, and authorities have not independently verified its operational presence in Nigeria.
Following the massacre, Nigerian authorities initially blamed Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). However, neither ISWAP nor Boko Haram, the two extremist groups behind a long-running insurgency in northeastern Nigeria, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Owo church massacre remains one of the deadliest attacks ever carried out against a place of worship in Nigeria.
