A couple who survived the Owo church massacre, on Wednesday, recounted at the Federal High Court in Abuja how gunmen shot their way into St Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, on 5 June 2022, killing and injuring worshippers during the horrific terrorist attack.
The husband, a civil servant, told Judge Emeka Nwite that his wife was critically injured and later had both legs amputated and one eye damaged. The wife, a victim of the terrorist attack who testified in a wheelchair, showed the judge her damaged eye during her testimony on Wednesday.
The couple who live in Owo, testified at Wednesday’s hearing in the trial of five men who are facing prosecution in connection to the terrorist attack, which reportedly claimed the lives of more than 40 worshippers of the church and injured over 100 during a Pentecost Mass of the church.
The defendants are Idris Omeiza, 25; Al Qasim Idris, 20; Jamiu Abdulmalik, 26; Abdulhaleem Idris, 25; and Momoh Otuho Abubakar, 47.
Led in evidence by the prosecution lawyer, Ayodeji Adepipe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, the male prosecution witness, codenamed SSE as part of court-approved witness protection measure, narrated that the gunmen were already on the church premises when the Master of Discipline (MOD) requested that the main door be closed.
SSE, who is the fifth prosecution witness, said after the main door was shut, the gunmen began shooting through the windows at anyone trying to escape.
He further described how explosives were thrown at where people had gathered, and how “the church filled with dust and smoke.”
After the attackers left, he said he searched for his family among the bodies and later discovered that his wife’s legs had been shattered.
Wife shares more details
The wife, who testified earlier as SSD, appeared in a wheelchair and showed the judge her artificial eye and her two amputated legs.
The SSD, who was the fourth prosecution witness, narrated how she survived the 5 June 2022 attack.
SSD, a nurse with the Ondo State Hospital Management Board, said she attended Mass that day with her husband, children, and mother-in-law.
She said the service had been going smoothly, and she was at the choir gallery singing when the final blessing was about to be pronounced.
“We heard the first sound from outside the church. At first, we thought it was a knockout or banga, but then we realised something was amiss,” she said. “I ran to the altar. A lot of people came towards me, lying on top of me. I was praying that God should save my family because I was unsure of their direction. I also prayed that He should forgive my sins if this were to be my last day on earth.”
She described the continued gunfire and explosions.
“Then I heard a loud sound, which I believe was dynamite. I didn’t know what followed until everything was calm and I realised I was still alive. I touched my eyes and leg. I felt blood and the dangling, shattered part of my leg. I could not talk and could hear faintly,” SSD said.
She said she was taken to a hospital alongside other victims and dead bodies. “During treatment, I lost my left eye. I currently use a prosthesis, and my two legs were amputated above the knee,” she said, showing the judge her legs and eye.
She said she spent over five months in the hospital before being discharged.“Since then, I have been in a wheelchair.”
During cross-examination by defence lawyer Abdullahi Mohammed, she recalled that the attack started about 10 a.m., when Mass was ending.
She also said she was unsure of the precise cause of the loss of her left eye, but recalled that the roof of the altar where she ran to was blasted by dynamite.
Government neglect
Witness SSE accused the Ondo State Government of neglect.
He said the administration of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, which was in power at the time of the attack, made frantic efforts to provide his wife with prosthetics (artificial limbs used to support humans) and medical support but could not see it through before Mr Akeredolu in December 2023.
He added that Mr Akeredolu’s successor, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, who was the deputy governor in the previous administration, has since abandoned the family.
“Though the federal and state governments tried their best, the state government promised her prosthetics, an artificial leg, but the vendor was unable to provide a useful one before the government left office. The current Ondo State Government is not doing anything about it. I have called the commissioner for health several times, but they are not taking any action,” said the witness.
After the couple gave their testimony, their statements made at the State Security Service (SSS) office in Akure, the Ondo State capital, in May 2024 were admitted as exhibits D and E, respectively.
The judge then adjourned proceedings until 10 and 11 February.
Backstory
The Attorney-General of the Federation’s office arraigned the defendants on 11 August 2025, well over three years after the attack.
They were arraigned on terrorism charges.
Prosecutors alleged that they were members of the Al Shabaab terrorist group operating a cell in Kogi State, and that they planned and executed the Owo Catholic Church attack as part of a violent religious agenda.
The five defendants all pleaded not guilty to the charges and were subsequently remanded in the custody of the State Security Service (SSS).
Their lawyer later applied for bail, but the prosecution opposed the citing the defendants’ alleged links to foreign terrorist groups, including Al-Shabab.
In September, the trial judge, Emeka Nwite, dismissed the bail application, ruling that it lacked merit.
Trial then started on 11 December 2025 when the prosecution opened its case and called its first prosecution witness, a Catholic priest who led the Pentecost Sunday Mass on the day of the attack.
On Tuesday, another witness while recounting the hour-long tragic incident, identified two of the suspected assailants out of the five men that are being prosecuted on terrorism charges over the massacre.
Five witnesses have testified in the case, and the prosecution said it has no fewer than five witnesses remaining.
