A Department of State Services (DSS) witness on Tuesday told a Federal High Court how the June 5, 2022 terror attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, was planned and executed. The attack left 41 people dead and 140 others injured.
The witness, a deputy director in charge of terrorism investigations and the leader of the DSS panel probing the attack, gave evidence as prosecution witness number nine under the security code SSI. He explained that his team was tasked with identifying the perpetrators, their sponsors, and the causes of the incident.
According to the witness, DSS operatives arrested five suspects in August 2022 across Kogi and Ondo States. The suspects were named as Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al Quasim Idris, Jemiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris, and Momoh Otuho Abubakar.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects are members of Al-Shabab, an arm of the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP), a designated terrorist organisation. The witness detailed that the group had planned the attack under the direction of an individual identified as Odoba.
The court heard that the defendants held a meeting on May 30, 2022, at Government Secondary School, Ogaminana, Kogi State, where Odoba instructed them to carry out the church attack on a Sunday and specifically target the priest in charge.