Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja will deliver judgment on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in the trial of five men accused of carrying out the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.
The attack killed over 40 worshippers and injured many others during a Pentecost Sunday service.
The Department of State Services, which prosecuted the case, asked the court to hand down the maximum sentence. Lead counsel Ayodeji Adedipe told the court the prosecution proved its case with strong evidence, intelligence, and investigations. He urged the judge to convict the defendants and sentence them to death.
The five defendants are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al-Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris, and Momoh Otuho Abubakar. Their lawyer, Abdullahi Mohammad, asked the court to acquit them, saying the prosecution did not prove the charges.
The case has drawn national and global attention. Pope Francis, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the EU, UK, former President Muhammadu Buhari, and ex-Ondo Governor Rotimi Akeredolu all condemned the killings and demanded justice.
A key twist came when defendant Al-Qasim Idris told the court DSS officers tortured and threatened him to confess. He said he was beaten, hospitalized for 3 days, and thrown into an underground cell. He also claimed a female officer threatened to feed his body to crocodiles if he died in custody.
DSS evidence relies heavily on mobile phone tracking that allegedly placed Idris near the church that day. Idris denied it, saying he was on his father’s farm in Elegbeka and that rural cell signals can overlap.
Justice Nwite had reserved judgment on May 26 after both sides made their final arguments. The ruling on June 3 will close one of the deadliest terror attacks ever recorded in Southwest Nigeria.
