By TAIYE AGBAJE

A witness of the Department of State Services (DSS), on Tuesday, told the Federal High Court in Abuja that the suspected terrorists were funded, armed and mobilised to attack St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Owo in Ondo State, on June 5, 2022.

The witness, who was giving his testimony under protection, led a DSS investigation team into the attack.

He gave details of the roles played by the defendants in the attack in which he said over 40 people died, while over 100 individuals sustained various injuries.

Identified as SSI for security reasons, the witness, who was the 9th prosecution witness (PW-9), spoke while giving his evidence before Justice Emeka Nwite.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the prosecution also tendered what it described as “a comprehensive investigation report on the incident,” which the court admitted in evidence in the absence of objection from the defence and marked as exhibit in the case.

NAN reports that the five men, being prosecuted by the DSS, are: Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25 years), Al Qasim Idris 20 years), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26 years), Abdulhaleem Idris (25 years) and Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47 years).

Led in evidence by prosecuting lawyer, Ayodeji Adedipe, SAN, the witness said he is the Deputy Director in charge of Counter Terrorism Investigation and led the investigation team.

He said his team was mandated to unravel the perpetrators, the cause of the incident, their sponsors and any other findings that may arise .

“With that, we proceeded to gather intelligence and also exploited technical resources, which eventually led us to the arrest of five persons in the month of August 2022.

“The arrest occurred both in Kogi and Ondo States and the persons we arrested were Al-Qasim Idris (2nd defendant) and his brother Abdulhalid Idris (4th defendant), then Omaiza Abdulmalik (1st), then his brother, Jamiu Abdulmalik (3rd),” he said, and gave the name of the fifth defendant as Momoh Otuho Abubakar.”

According to him, our investigation found out that the persons we arrested were members of Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP), a proscribed terrorist group, who belong to a cell that operated around Okene/Adavi Local Government Area of Kogi State, as well as Omielafa and Omielege in Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State under the coordination of one Odoba.

“Odoba usually hibernate around Ogaminana in Adavi LGA of Kogi State,” he said.

Giving details of how the attack was planned, the witness said: “On the 30th of May, 2022, Odoba called a meeting of some of the group’s members, who are members of his ISWAP cell. They go with alliance, Al-Shabab.

“So on the 30 of May, 2022, they met at the Government Secondary School, Ogaminana where Al-Qasim Idris was present in the meeting and Odoba passed the instruction for them to prepare to attack the Catholic Church Owo.

“And, his instruction was clear that they should attack on Sunday and ensure that they kill the priest.

“So when Al-Qasim returned to Omilafia, he gathered some of the cell members, including Abdulhalid (4th defendant), his brother, Jamiu (3rd defendant) and all the four were in the meeting, except the 5th defendant.

“There was equally one Kabir, who is a cousin to Al-Qasim and Addulmalik. The meeting was held after tte jumaat prayer at the mosque where the Idris bothers’ father is the Chief Iman.

“He (Al-Qasim) told them (those at the meeting) to be prepared for the attack as instructed by Odoba.

“He only told them they will be getting two other persons to reinforce the team

“The names of these individuals (the other two) are Mohammed and Abdullahi.

“On Saturday, the next day, being the 4th of June, 2022, Abdulhaleem Idris (4th) travelled to Adavi, where he hired a Volkswagen Golf 3 car.

“He proceeded to lead Odoba, who supported them with five AK47 riffles, 10.magazines, rounds of ammunition and improvised explosive devices (IED) for the planned attack,” he said.

The PW-9 said by evening of the same day, they all gathered in Abdulhaleem’s house in Omilafia, where Al-Quasim allegedly, reviewed with the others, the attack plan and subsequently engaged in some dry practice.

When asked to explain what he meant by “dry practice,” the witness said it is the practice done with weapon, without live rounds, to reorient oneself on the safety precaution of the weapons

He added the at the end of the dry practice, they all spent the night in Al-Quasim’s room, adding that on the night of June 4, Al Qasim took a motorbike belonging to his father, which he rode most of the time, to deliver items to Mohammed and Abdullahi, to facilitate their movement for surveillance on the church and also during the attack.

Giving a graphic detail of how the attack was carried out, the witness said: “The next morning, 5th of June, the 1st to 4th defendants and Kabir, now at large, were driven in the Golf car, with the weapons concealed in sacks, to the church about 8 to 8:30 am.

“They met Abdullahi and Mohammed. They got to the church, removed the sacks and pulled out their weapons. Two of them sat with a woman roasting corn.

“They bought some corn. A young man hawking stuff was observing them. One of them (the attackers) went and whispered to the hawker. When he was about to leave after being whispered to, he was shot dead instantly.

“This triggered chaos in front of the church. In the midst of that, they accosted a man coming from the Deeper Life Bible Church in a Nissan Sunny car. They snatched his car and drove into the church premises.

“Under Al Qasim’s directive, they proceeded in the directions he had told them to take. Abdulhaleem was carrying the bag containing the improvised explosives.

“They shot sporadically in the church’s sanctuary, outside and all over, including worshippers trying to escape.

“Abdulhaleem, who had the bag containing IEDs, detonated at least three explosives. Other attackers engaged the worshippers with gunshots.

“40 people, including women and children, died at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC). 23 were wounded and rushed to the hospital.,” he said.

The witness added that apart from the 40 church members, who were killed, a non-member was the first to be killed by the attackers in front of the church, adding that some of the 40 deceased were taken to the hospital dead.

The prosecution subsequently tendered a medical report, signed by one Dr Ayodeji O.O, in respect of which the witness said: “We have made efforts to see how the doctor could come but it was not possible.”

The prosecution equally tendered 30 photographs taken from the incident’s scene by investigators, which the court admitted as Exhibit M – M30.

SSI told the court that at the end of the investigation, his team made a comprehensive investigation report.

On whether the 5th defendant played no role, since he spoke extensively about the first four defendants, the witness said it was an oversight that he did not speak about the 5th defendant.

He then proceeded to give details of the role the 5th defendant allegedly played in the whole incident.

The witness said: “Investigation revealed that the 5th defendant worked in tandem with the 1st to 4th defendants .He was operating a Point of Sales (POS) unit in five different locations.

“About two to three weeks prior to the attack, his account was credited at two different instances with N800, 000.

“He used the POS machine to distribute the money to the individuals, who are members of the Al-Shabab Unit of ISWAP, and the defendants were beneficiaries of this money, with no evidence of business transactions between them.”

PW-9 added that technical evidence established that the 5th defendant was in communication with them (the other four), within the period of the attack.

He confirmed that an autopsy examination was conducted on some of the dead bodies and a report was generated.

The prosecution tendered the report which was admitted in evidence without objection from the defence.

The court also admitted in evidence, the comprehensive investigation report on the attack, which the prosecution tendered through the witness.

The defence lawyer, Abdullahi Mohammad said he would not object to the tendering of the report, but would require time to study it, because it was served on his team a few days ago.

He sought an adjournment to enable him study the investigation report before he could cross-examine the witness.

Justice Nwite adjourned the matter until Feb. 18 at 11am for continuation of trial in the absence of objection from the prosecuting lawyer. (NAN)

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