An officer of the Ondo State Security Network Agency, Amotekun, told a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday that he engaged in a gunfight with one of the assailants involved in the June 5, 2022, massacre at St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo. He later identified the man in court as the second defendant.
The witness, code-named SSG, an Assistant Commander with Amotekun and a resident of Owo, said he and his team encountered fleeing attackers in the bush shortly after the church attack, acting on intelligence from eyewitnesses.
SSG explained that he was initially responding to a separate kidnapping incident at Shagari Village in Owo when he received instructions from his commander to abort the mission due to the church attack. Upon arriving at St. Francis Catholic Church, he observed spent AK-47 shells on the ground, lifeless bodies of men, women, and children inside the building, and several injured worshippers. The injured were taken to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owo, while the bodies were deposited at St. Louis Hospital.
He said he later gathered information from a corn seller and a motorcyclist, who reported that the attackers had fled in a blue Nissan vehicle toward Achievers University along Ute Road. The Amotekun team later found the abandoned vehicle at Ijebu, bearing registration number AKR 895 AG, with sachet water inside. The vehicle was secured at the Amotekun office in Owo, and the team tracked the suspects’ footprints into a nearby cocoa farm.
“At one point, I saw the mouth of an AK-47 pointed at me,” SSG testified. He said he attempted to respond with his pump-action gun, which was initially on safety mode. After disengaging it, a gun battle ensued. The attackers fled into the bush, though one shot a hunter accompanying the team, killing him instantly. SSG said his focus then shifted to evacuating the hunter’s body to the FMC mortuary.
When asked to identify the assailant he encountered, SSG pointed to the second defendant in court and reaffirmed the identification during cross-examination. He said the suspect was later arrested through a joint operation involving the police, civil defence, DSS, and other security agencies. He also identified photographs of the recovered vehicle, which remains in the custody of security authorities.
Earlier, a pathologist, code-named SSF, testified that he conducted post-mortem examinations on victims of the Owo church attack. Invited by the Ondo State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Awo Ajaka, SSF reported that all bodies examined had multiple gunshot wounds from firearms fired from different directions, resulting in massive internal bleeding and death. He identified several victims by name and body numbers in the forensic report, which was submitted to the Ondo State Government.
During cross-examination, SSF said he could not determine the exact type of firearm or bullets used, noting that he is a pathologist, not a ballistic expert. The court upheld the prosecution’s objection and discharged the witness.
Justice Emeka Nwite subsequently adjourned the trial to February 11 for continuation.
