Abuja — Three years after their arrest, the trial of the five men accused of the Pentecost Sunday massacre in the Catholic Church of St. Francis Xavier in Owo, Ondo State (see Fides, 6/6/2022), in which 40 people lost their lives and 80 were injured, begins on Tuesday, August 19, 2025.
The defendants are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris, and Momoh Otuho Abubakar. A total of nine charges have been filed, including membership in the "Al Shabaab" (literally "Party of Youth") group, an Islamist group active primarily in Somalia, founded around 2006 and affiliated with the al-Qaeda network.
According to the Ministry of State Services, which officially filed the charges, the five men are said to be part of a cell of the group that moved from Somalia to Nigeria, specifically to Kogi State. According to the charges, the five men, who have pleaded not guilty and for whom pre-trial detention has been requested, carried out the attack on the church in Owo motivated by their "religious ideology." (Agenzia Fides, 12/8/2025)
