{"id":1328,"date":"2025-08-11T19:40:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T17:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swazidailynews.com\/?p=1328"},"modified":"2025-08-11T19:40:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T17:40:07","slug":"nigeria-arraigns-five-accused-in-2022-catholic-church-massacre-in-abuja-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/genesisekucalenimedia.com\/edn\/1328\/news\/world\/nigeria-arraigns-five-accused-in-2022-catholic-church-massacre-in-abuja-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria arraigns five accused in 2022 Catholic church massacre in Abuja court"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Camillus Eboh<\/span><\/p>\n

LAGOS – Nigerian prosecutors on Monday arraigned five men accused of carrying out a deadly Islamist militant\u00a0<\/span>attack on a Catholic church<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in Owo, in the southwestern Ondo state, that killed at least 50 worshippers in 2022 and wounded over 100 others.<\/span><\/p>\n

The suspects – Idris Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris and Momoh Otuho Abubakar – appeared before a federal high court in Abuja, where they were charged under Nigeria’s terrorism law.<\/span><\/p>\n

The suspects pleaded not guilty to the charges and were remanded in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).<\/span><\/p>\n

Judge Emeka Nwite adjourned the start of the trial to August 19. The trial is expected to test the government’s ability to prosecute cases tied to terrorism, a challenge as Nigeria grapples with insurgencies and widespread insecurity.<\/span><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Nigeria\u2019s July oil output tops 1.8 million bpd, regulator says<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

According to court filings, the men allegedly joined the East African terrorist group Al Shabaab in 2021 and plotted the assault at a public school in central Nigeria and near a mosque 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) from Owo’s St Francis Catholic Church.<\/span><\/p>\n

Al Shabaab did not claim responsibility for the June 2022 attack, and its operational presence in Nigeria remains unverified.<\/span><\/p>\n

Authorities initially blamed Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which, alongside Boko Haram, has waged a prolonged insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast, though the group also did not claim responsibility for the attack. (Reuters) <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trial is expected to test the government’s ability to prosecute cases tied to terrorism, a challenge as Nigeria grapples with insurgencies and insecurity.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,33,34,30],"tags":[46,81,62,50],"class_list":["post-1328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-africa","category-culture","category-pop-culture","category-world","tag-africa","tag-court","tag-crime","tag-international","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"yoast_head":"\nNigeria arraigns five accused in 2022 Catholic church massacre in Abuja court - 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