High Court Convicts Four Terror Suspects Over Deadly 2022 Owo Church Massacre

A Nigerian court has convicted four men of terrorism in connection with the deadly 2022 attack on a Catholic church in Owo, Ondo State, sentencing them to death by hanging among other terms, while acquitting a fifth defendant.

Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja delivered the verdict on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, finding Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik and Abdulhaleem Idris guilty on all nine counts under Nigeria’s Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act.

The charges included membership in a terrorist group, planning and executing the attack, and murder. The fifth accused, Momoh Otuho Abubakar, was discharged and acquitted due to insufficient evidence.

The court sentenced each of the four convicted men to one life imprisonment, two 20-year prison terms, and six death sentences. However, Nigeria has observed a de facto moratorium on the death penalty for years, meaning executions are extremely rare even after such sentences are handed down. Defence lawyer Abdullahi Muhammad says he intends to appeal the convictions.

The attack took place on June 5, 2022, during Pentecost Sunday celebrations at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo. Gunmen opened fire on worshippers and detonated explosives, killing more than 40 people (including children) and injuring around 100 others. The massacre was one of the deadliest incidents in Nigeria’s relatively calmer southwest region, where jihadist and bandit violence is far less common than in the northeast and northwest.

Authorities initially linked the attack to the Somali-based Al-Shabaab group, but security sources later indicated the perpetrators belonged to a local cell of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) that operated under the name “Al-Shabaab” (Arabic for “the youth”). No group formally claimed responsibility at the time.

The defendants’ lawyers have alleged that their clients were tortured during interrogation and held for years in undisclosed locations without access to legal representation before the trial finally began in 2025. Prosecutor Ayodeji Adedipe told journalists after the verdict that “justice has been served for the victims murdered in cold blood.”

The convictions come more than four years after the attack, with several other suspects still at large. The case has drawn attention to the persistent threat of terrorism across Nigeria, even in areas previously considered relatively safe, and the long delays that often characterise high-profile terror trials in the country.

The Owo massacre remains a painful scar for the community and the Catholic Church in Nigeria. Wednesday’s verdict brings some measure of accountability for the victims’ families, though many questions about the full planning and sponsorship of the attack are still unanswered.