Owo Church Attack: Suspect Tells Court How DSS Arrested Him

One of the five persons standing trial over the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo on Wednesday told the Federal High Court in Abuja how he was arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
About 41 worshippers were killed and over 140 injured in the attack.
The defendants are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25), Al Qasim Idris (20), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26), Abdulhaleem Idris (25), and Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47).
The DSS has called 11 witnesses since the trial commenced on August 1, 2025. The court admitted the defendants’ confessional statements after conducting a trial-within-trial to determine that they were voluntarily made.
Omeiza, who opened his defence before Justice Emeka Nwite, said he was arrested in the early hours of August 1, 2022, alongside two young boys identified as Hauwa and Yusuf.
Testifying through an interpreter after opting to speak in Ebira, Omeiza told the court that he was reading around 2:20 a.m. when he heard noises outside his residence.
“I opened the window and saw a group of people dressed in black and covering their faces. They forced the door open and entered,” he said, adding that the operatives asked for his elder brother, Jamiu.
According to him, the officers arrested other occupants of the house before taking him into custody.
Omeiza said he was taken to a DSS facility in Lokoja, Kogi State, where he later met the fifth defendant, Abubakar. He told the court that their personal details were recorded and that he volunteered a statement the following day.
He claimed that until August 18, 2022, when they were moved to Ondo State, he was not questioned about the Owo church attack or alleged membership of any terrorist group.
At the DSS office in Ondo, he said, interrogators questioned him and his brother about the church attack while they were detained in the same room.
Justice Nwite adjourned the matter to March 6 for continuation of the defence.