Abuja court charges suspects in deadly Ondo church attack
Court documents allege that the five men joined the East African terrorist group Al Shabaab in 2021 and planned an attack at a public school in central Nigeria, as well as near a mosque located about 30 kilometres from St Francis Catholic Church in Owo.
Five men accused of carrying out a deadly attack on a Catholic church in Owo, Ondo state, in 2022 that left at least 50 worshippers dead and more than 100 injured have been arraigned in Abuja.
The suspects, Idris Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris and Momoh Otuho Abubakar, appeared before the federal high court in Abuja on Monday, facing charges under Nigeria’s terrorism law.
They all pleaded not guilty and were ordered to remain in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).
The hearing was presided over by Judge Emeka Nwite, who set the trial to begin on August 19. The case is seen as a major test for the government’s capacity to prosecute terrorism-related offences at a time when the country is battling insurgencies and insecurity.
Court documents allege that the five men joined the East African terrorist group Al Shabaab in 2021 and planned an attack at a public school in central Nigeria, as well as near a mosque located about 30 kilometres from St Francis Catholic Church in Owo.
Al Shabaab has not claimed responsibility for the June 2022 massacre, and there is no verified evidence of the group’s operations in Nigeria.
At the time, authorities pointed to Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) as the possible perpetrators, though the group also did not take responsibility. ISWAP, alongside Boko Haram, has been behind a long-running insurgency in the country’s northeast.
