A witness of the State Security Service (SSS), on Tuesday, told the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court that terrorists were funded, armed, and mobilised to attack St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Owo, in Ondo State, on June 5, 2022.
The witness, who was giving his testimony under protection, led an SSS investigation team into the attack.
He gave details of the roles played by the defendants in the attack, in which he said over 40 people died, while over 100 individuals sustained various injuries.
Identified as SSI for security reasons, the witness, who was the ninth prosecution witness (PW-9), testified before Justice Emeka Nwite.
The prosecution also tendered what it described as “a comprehensive investigation report on the incident,” which the court admitted in evidence without objection from the defence and marked as an exhibit in the case.
The five men being prosecuted by the SSS are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, 25; Al Qasim Idris, 20; Jamiu Abdulmalik, 26; Abdulhaleem Idris, 25; and Momoh Otuho Abubakar, 47.
Led in evidence by the prosecuting lawyer, Ayodeji Adedipe (SAN), the witness said he is the deputy director in charge of counter-terrorism investigation and that he led the investigation team.
He said his team was mandated to unravel the perpetrators, the cause of the incident, their sponsors, and any other findings that may arise.
“With that, we proceeded to gather intelligence and also exploited technical resources, which eventually led us to the arrest of five persons in the month of August 2022 in Kogi and Ondo States.
“Our investigation found out that the persons we arrested were members of Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP), a proscribed terrorist group, who belonged to a cell that operated around the Okene/Adavi Local Government Area of Kogi State, as well as Omielafa and Omielege in the Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State under the coordination of one Odoba.
“Odoba usually hibernates around Ogaminana in the Adavi LGA of Kogi State,” he said.
Giving details of how the attack was planned, the witness said, “On the 30th of May, 2022, Odoba called a meeting of some of the group’s members, who are members of his ISWAP cell. They go with the alliance, Al-Shabab.
“So on the 30 of May, 2022, they met at the Government Secondary School, Ogaminana, where Al-Qasim Idris was present in the meeting, and Odoba passed the instruction for them to prepare to attack the Catholic Church in Owo.
“And, his instruction was clear that they should attack on Sunday and ensure that they kill the priest. So when Al-Qasim returned to Omilafia, he gathered some of the cell members, including Abdulhalid (4th defendant), his brother, Jamiu (3rd defendant), and all four were in the meeting, except the 5th defendant.
“There was equally one Kabir, who is a cousin to Al-Qasim and Addulmalik. The meeting was held after the Jumaat prayer at the mosque, where the Idris brothers’ father is the chief imam.
“He (Al-Qasim) told them (those at the meeting) to be prepared for the attack as instructed by Odoba. He only told them they would be getting two other persons to reinforce the team
“The names of these individuals (the other two) are Mohammed and Abdullahi. On Saturday, the next day, being the 4th of June, 2022, Abdulhaleem Idris (fourth) travelled to Adavi, where he hired a Volkswagen Golf 3 car.
“He proceeded to lead Odoba, who supported them with five AK-47 rifles, 10 magazines, rounds of ammunition, and improvised explosive devices (IED) for the planned attack,” he said.
The PW-9 said that by evening of the same day, they all gathered at Mr Abdulhaleem’s house in Omilafia, where Mr Al-Quasim allegedly reviewed the attack plan with the others and subsequently engaged in some dry practice.
When asked to explain what he meant by “dry practice,” the witness said it is the practice done with a weapon, without live rounds, to reorient oneself on the safety precautions of the weapons
He added that at the end of the dry practice, they all spent the night in Mr Al-Quasim’s room, adding that on the night of June 4, Mr Al-Qasim took a motorbike belonging to his father, which he rode most of the time, to deliver items to Messrs Mohammed and Abdullahi to facilitate their movement for surveillance on the church and also during the attack.
Giving a graphic detail of how the attack was carried out, the witness said, “The next morning, 5th of June, the first to fourth defendants and Kabir, now at large, were driven in the Golf car, with the weapons concealed in sacks, to the church about 8 to 8:30 a.m.
“They met Abdullahi and Mohammed. They got to the church, removed the sacks and pulled out their weapons. Two of them sat with a woman roasting corn.
“They bought some corn. A young man hawking stuff was observing them. One of them (the attackers) went and whispered to the hawker. When he was about to leave after being whispered to, he was shot dead instantly.
“This triggered chaos in front of the church. In the midst of that, they accosted a man coming from the Deeper Life Bible Church in a Nissan Sunny car. They snatched his car and drove into the church premises.
“Under Al Qasim’s directive, they proceeded in the directions he had told them to take. Abdulhaleem was carrying the bag containing the improvised explosives. They shot sporadically in the church’s sanctuary, outside, and all over, including worshippers trying to escape.
“Abdulhaleem, who had the bag containing IEDs, detonated at least three explosives. Other attackers engaged the worshippers with gunshots. Forty people, including women and children, died at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC). Twenty-three were wounded and rushed to the hospital,” he said.
The witness added that apart from the 40 church members, who were killed, a non-member was the first to be killed by the attackers in front of the church, adding that some of the deceased were taken to the hospital dead.
The prosecution subsequently tendered a medical report, signed by one Doctor Ayodeji O.O, in respect of which the witness said, “We have made efforts to see how the doctor could come, but it was not possible.”
The prosecution also tendered 30 photographs taken at the scene of the incident by investigators, which the court admitted as Exhibits M–M30.
SSI told the court that, at the end of the investigation, his team prepared a comprehensive report.
On whether the fifth defendant played no role, since he spoke extensively about the first four defendants, the witness said it was an oversight that he did not speak about the fifth defendant.
The witness said, “Investigation revealed that the fifth defendant worked in tandem with the first to fourth defendants. He was operating a point-of-sale (PoS) unit at five different locations.
“About two to three weeks prior to the attack, his account was credited at two different instances with N800,000.
“He used the PoS machine to distribute the money to the individuals, who are members of the Al-Shabab Unit of ISWAP, and the defendants were beneficiaries of this money, with no evidence of business transactions between them.”
PW-9 added that technical evidence established that the fifth defendant was in communication with them (the other four) within the period of the attack.
He confirmed that an autopsy examination was conducted on some of the dead bodies and a report was generated.
The prosecution tendered the report, which was admitted in evidence without objection from the defence.
The court also admitted in evidence the comprehensive investigation report on the attack, tendered by the prosecution through the witness.
The defence lawyer, Abdullahi Mohammad, said he would not object to the tendering of the report but would require time to study it because it was served on his team a few days ago.
He sought an adjournment to enable him to study the investigation report before he could cross-examine the witness.
Justice Nwite adjourned the matter until February 18 at 11:00 a.m. for continuation of the trial in the absence of objection from the prosecuting lawyer.
(NAN)