A federal high court in Abuja on Wednesday sentenced four men to death by hanging for their involvement in the bloody attack of June 5, 2022 on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State.
During the attack, the convicts killed 43 and injured more than 100 of the Christian worshipers participating in a church service on the day of the incident.
Their sentences are coming four years after the bloody incident said to be the first of its kind in the South Western part of Nigeria reputed for religious tolerance.
The four persons sentenced to death were among the five suspects charged for the offence by the Department of State Security (DSS).
The four convicted persons were found guilty on every one of the nine-count charge preferred against them by the federal government.
Five men; Idris Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris, and Momoh Otuho Abubakar were arraigned on August 11, 2022 to face the terrorism charges.
However, only Momoh Otuho Abubakar, was discharged by the court.
Prosecutors said the convicts joined Al-Shabaab in 2021 and ran a cell in Kogi state.
They claimed the defendants met in Kogi and Ondo States in 2022 to map out the church attack.
The charges included setting off IEDs and opening fire with AK-47 rifles.
More than 40 people were killed and over 100 others wounded.
The government argued the assault was meant to advance the group’s religious ideology.
Those actions violate the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022. (vitalnewsngr.com)
