On Monday, Nigerian prosecutors brought five individuals before a federal high court in Abuja, accused of orchestrating a deadly assault on a Catholic church in Owo, located in the southwestern Ondo state. This attack, which occurred in 2022, resulted in the deaths of at least 50 worshippers and injured over 100 others.
The accused—Idris Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris, and Momoh Otuho Abubakar—faced charges under the country’s terrorism laws. They each entered a plea of not guilty and were subsequently taken into custody by the Department of State Services (DSS).
Judge Emeka Nwite has postponed the trial’s commencement to August 19. This trial is poised to challenge the government’s capacity to effectively prosecute terrorism-related offenses amid ongoing insurgencies and significant security issues throughout Nigeria.
Court documents indicate that the defendants allegedly affiliated with the East African terrorist organization Al Shabaab in 2021, planning attacks at a public school in central Nigeria and near a mosque situated about 30 kilometers (approximately 18.6 miles) from St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo.
Although Al Shabaab did not claim responsibility for the June 2022 incident, and its operational presence in Nigeria is still unconfirmed, initial suspicions pointed to Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). This group, along with Boko Haram, has been involved in a long-term insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast, yet it too has not taken responsibility for this particular attack.
