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From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
A Federal High Court has admitted additional exhibits in the trial of five men charged with allegedly masterminding the 5 June 2025 terror attacks against Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo town, Ondo State.
The additional exhibits were tendered by the prosecution counsel following the testimonies of two witnesses produced by the Department of State Services (DSS).
Justice Emeka Nwite of the Abuja Division of the court admitted the exhibits in evidence against the defendants.
The attack, which involved sporadic shooting and explosives against the church, left 41 worshippers instantly dead and over 100 with various degrees of injuries, including leg amputations.
The DSS, in a nine-count amended charge, is currently prosecuting the five suspected terrorists.
They are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25), Al Qasim Idris (20), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26), Abdulhaleem Idris (25) and Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47).
During the arraignment, the defendants pleaded not guilty to the nine-count charge.
At the resumption of trial yesterday, the two witnesses, codenamed 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 female witness, codenamed SSB, a student from Anambra State, told Justice Emeka Nwite how the unknown gunmen forced their way into the church and fired gunshots at the choir gallery, during which heavy pandemonium took over the church.
She said that an explosive, dynamite, was placed at her head to blow her up for having the audacity to raise her head when one of the gunmen was talking, but she swiftly moved her body, only for her left leg to be shattered 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.
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The witness confirmed that the damaged leg was operated on four times by medical experts before she could manage to walk on it.
The SSC noted with sadness that iron was fixed in the leg to support it and that the iron has not been removed from the leg to date.
She said that her brother’s cousin, aged two years, was not lucky during the attack, as he was shot at the back of the head and died on the spot.
The second witness, codenamed SSC, 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 the DSS to its Akure office, where they volunteered their statements on 26 May 2024.
Meanwhile, the two extra-judicial statements made by the witnesses to the DSS have been admitted as Exhibits B and C by Justice Emeka Nwite, following the absence of objections to their admission.
At the close of proceedings, counsel to the DSS, Ayodeji Adedipe (SAN), said he intends to call seven more witnesses but that only two would testify on 14 January.
The defendants were represented in court by their counsel, Abdullahi Auwal Mohammed.
A Catholic priest and one of the victims of the terrorist attacks, codenamed SSA for security reasons, had on Thursday, 11 December 2025, testified for the DSS as Prosecution Witness One (PW-1) in the trial.
Meanwhile, Justice Emeka Nwite has fixed 14 January for continuation of trial.
