A survivor of the June 5, 2022, terrorist attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, on Wednesday broke down before the Federal High Court in Abuja, recounting how the explosion shattered her body, claimed her eyesight and left her permanently wheelchair-bound, while lamenting that successive appeals to the Ondo State Government for medical support have yielded nothing.

The Federal Government witness, code-named SSD, told Justice Emeka Nwite that the explosive device hurled into the church by terrorists shattered both her legs, leading to amputation above the knees, and permanently destroyed her left eye.

The witness, a trained nurse and housewife, was testifying in the ongoing terrorism trial of five defendants accused of masterminding the deadly Owo church attack that claimed at least 41 lives.

She said her life has been irreversibly altered by the incident, adding that she has been confined to a wheelchair since the attack and lost her source of livelihood due to the severity of her injuries.

Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Ayodeji Adedipe, SAN, the victim narrated how gunmen stormed the church during Sunday service, shooting sporadically and forcing worshippers to flee for safety.

According to her, she ran to the choir gallery, but due to the large crowd gathered there, the attackers threw an explosive device, suspected to be dynamite, into the area, causing massive casualties.

“The explosion destroyed human lives instantly. That was how I lost my two legs and my eye,” she told the court.
She disclosed that she spent five months in the hospital before being discharged, stressing that apart from those killed, many other parishioners sustained life-threatening injuries.

The five defendants standing trial are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25), Al Qasim Idris (20), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26), Abdulhaleem Idris (25) and Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47).

They had all pleaded not guilty to the nine-count terrorism charge during their arraignment last year.
After SSD’s testimony, the prosecution called its fifth witness, code-named SSE, a civil servant and the husband of the injured woman.

SSE corroborated his wife’s account, stating that the attack left 41 worshippers dead and injured about 100 others, including his wife and her mother, who sustained a knee injury.

He told the court that he personally signed the consent form for the amputation of his wife’s legs in the hospital.
The witness further revealed that although the Ondo State Government initially promised to provide his wife with artificial limbs, the arrangement failed.

“The vendor could not provide useful artificial legs until the tenure of that government elapsed,” he said.
He added that the current Ondo State administration has shown no interest in assisting his wife despite repeated efforts to seek help.

“The current Ondo State government is not doing anything about her again. Several times, I called the state Commissioner for Health, but they are not doing anything about it,” he told the court.

Justice Nwite admitted the statements of both witnesses as exhibits and adjourned the case to February 10 and 11 for continuation of trial.