By: Ezekiel Awojide, Abuja
Two additional witnesses on Tuesday testified against the five defendants put on trial by the Department of State Service (DSS) for allegedly masterminding the June 5, 2022 terror attacks against the Saint Francis Savier Catholic Church in Owo town, Ondo State.
The two witnesses testified at the Federal High Court in Abuja, where additional exhibits by the Department of State Services were tendered and admitted against the accused persons.
The violent attack, which involved sporadic shooting and explosives against the church, left 41 worshippers dead while over 100 suffered various degrees of injuries, including amputations of legs.
At Tuesday’s proceedings, the two witnesses, code-named SSB and SSC, pathetically narrated how the gunmen stormed the church, locked up the main entrance door, and fired several gunshots at the worshippers.
A lady, code-named SSB, a student from Anambra state, told Justice Emeka Nwite how the unknown men forced their way into the church, firing shots at the Choir ga, during which heavy pandemonium took over the church.
She said that an explosive, dynamite was headed to blow her up for hathe ving having raised her head when one ofgunmenn menof the gunmen sh was talking to She loved her, her body only fr her, leaving her leg to be battered by the heavy explosion of the dynamite.
Led in evidence by the DSS lawyer, Ayodeji Adedipe SAN, the female witness showed the damaged left leg to the court upon permission to do so.
The witness confirmed that the damaged leg was operated on four times by medical experts before she could manage to walk.
The SSC noted with sadness that iron was fixed in the leg to support it and that the iron had not been removed from theto till date.
She said that her brother, who was two years old, was not lucky during the attack as he was hit on the back of his head and died on the spot.
The second witness, code-named name, had earlier narrated the same story of the attack and how 40 worshippers were counted dead shortly after the gunmen left the scene of the attack.
He confirmed that the church was bombed three times with dynamite, which resulted in serious damage to the church.
The two witnesses confirmed that they were invited by DSS at its Akure office where they volunteered their statements on May 26, 2024.
Meanwhile, the extrajudicial statements made by the two witnesses to DSS have been admitted as Exhibits B and C by Justice Emeka Nwite following wing absence of objections
to their admission.
At the close of Tuesday’s proceedings, counsel to DSS, Ayodeji Adedipe SAN said he intends to call seven more witnesses but that only two would testify on January 14.
The Department of State Services (DSS), in a nine-count amended charge, is currently prosecuting the five suspected terrorists.
They 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).
During the arraignment, the defendants pleaded not guilty to the 9-count charges.
At Tuesday’s proceedings, Abdullahi Auwal Mohammed stood for the defence of the five defendants.
Meanwhile, Justice Emeka Nwite has fixed January 14th for the continuation of the trial.
It will be recalled that a Catholic priest and one of the victims of the terrorist attack, code-named SSA for security reasons, had on Thursday, December 11, 2025, testified for DSS as prosecution witness One (PW-1) in the trial.
