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By John Azu
A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced to death four out of the five terrorists indicted in the killing of over 40 worshippers at St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, on June 5, 2022.
Justice Emeka Nwite on Wednesday ruled that the convicts be hung on the neck until they died.
The judge, however, freed the fifth, while Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47 years) of any wrongdoing.
The five accused persons are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25 years): Al Qasim Idris (20 years); Jamiu Abdulmalik (26 years); Abdulhaleem Idris (25 years); and Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47 years).
The judge ruled that the four defendants were guulty of the nine-count terrrorism charges brought against them by the federal government in 2025 in charge number: FHC/ABJ/CR/301/2025.
The prosecution team at the Department of State Services (DSS) had alleged that apart from the deceased congregants killed during the attack on June 5, 2022, the terrorists injured over 100 others.
The DSS led evidence that the convicts were members of the Al Shabab terrorist group, belonging to a cell in Kogi State.
The defendants are also alleged to have furthered their religious ideology.
The defendants pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to them by an official of the court.
One of the charges had read: “That you, Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris and Momoh Otuho Abubakar adults, males, with others still at large, sometime in 2021, did join and became members of AL Shabab Terrorist Group, with cell in Kogi State and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 25(1) of Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”