Four sentenced to death for attacking Catholic church in Nigeria

BBC World NewsUpdated Jun 3, 2026, 4:12 PM

A fifth man was discharged and acquitted by the court due to insufficient evidence against him.

A court in Nigeria has sentenced four men to death for attacking a church in the south-western Ondo state in 2022 in a case which sent shockwaves across the nation.

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 Abdulmalik 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 judgement, Justice 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.

"Hence this court finds the first to fourth defendants guilty of all nine counts," he added.

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.

The nine counts included joining a terror group, and planning and carrying out killings.

Prosecutor Ayodeji Adedipe said: "Justice has been served, justice has been done to the deceased who were murdered in cold blood."

The men's defence lawyer said he will appeal against the sentencing.

A fifth defendant, Momoh Otuho Abubakar, was discharged and acquitted by the court due to insufficient evidence against him.

He was accused of having financed the attack, by allegedly receiving 800,000 naira (£440; $590) twice from another suspect - who is still at large - and then disbursing the funds to the attackers.

During cross examination, however, Abubakar said the money in his account was the proceeds of his farming business, as well as activities from his cooperative society. He denied that the four other defendants were beneficiaries of the money.

Since the Owo attack, Nigeria has witnessed many more attacks on churches across the country as it continues to grapple with rising insecurity.

US President Donald Trump has accused Nigeria of failing to protect its Christian population from jihadist attacks.

On Christmas Day, the US hit two camps run by a jihadist group in north-western Nigeria, and threatened more if attacks continued.

Claims of a genocide against Nigeria's Christians have been circulating for some time in right-wing US circles, but organisations monitoring political violence in Nigeria say most victims of the jihadist groups are Muslims.

The Nigerian government also denies that Christians are being persecuted in the country.