Church bombers receive death sentences

A court in Nigeria has sentenced four men to death for attacking a church in the south-western Ondo state in 2022, reports BBC News. Forty-one worshippers were killed and more than 100 others injured when they opened fire at the St Francis Catholic church in the town of Owo during a Pentecost service. The court in the capital Abuja also sentenced the men – Idris Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik and Abdulhaleem Idris – to 20 years in prison for belonging to a terrorist group. Presidential assent is required before any death sentence is carried out in Nigeria. There have not been any executions in the country for several years. Judge Emeka Nwite, who presided over the case, said the evidence presented against them was ‘neither shaken nor contradicted during cross examination’. He had ordered an accelerated hearing after the high-profile trial commenced in August 2025. In his judgment, Nwite said that the prosecution had proved their case beyond reasonable doubt as they had brought before the court witnesses who saw the attack, including one who testified to recognising two of the defendants as attackers. One of the witnesses the court heard from was a woman who had her legs amputated from the knees, and had lost her left eye as a result of a dynamite explosion which the attackers had detonated. They faced nine counts, included joining a terror group, and planning and carrying out killings. The men's defence lawyer said they would appeal against the sentence. During the trial, the defendants said they had been tortured. A fifth defendant, Momoh Abubakar, was discharged and acquitted by the court due to insufficient evidence against him. He was accused of having financed the attack.

See also A Matter of Justice column below

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