The Federal High Court in Abuja has commenced the trial of five individuals accused of carrying out the bombing of a Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.
It will be recalled that on August 11, 2025, the Department of State Services (DSS) arraigned the suspects before Justice Emeka Nwite over their alleged role in the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo.
The defendants — Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris, and Momoh Otuho Abubakar — are facing trial for the assault, which left more than 40 people dead and over 100 others injured.
The defendants are facing nine-count terrorism charges by the DSS, and they all pleaded not guilty.
The suspects are accused, among other things, of being members of the Al Shabab terrorist group, with a cell in Kogi State.
They are also alleged to have carried out the attack in furtherance of their religious ideology.
They were alleged to have their “cell in Kogi and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 25(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
The suspects were alleged to have held meetings at the Government Secondary School, Ogamirana, Adavi LGA in Kogi, and behind Omialafa Central Mosque, Ose LGA, Ondo, in 2022, where they planned the attack, which they carried out in June of the same year.
