Two members of the terrorist group, the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), Al-Qasim Idris and Abdulhaleem Idris have been arrested over their involvement in the June 5 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church Owo in Ondo State.

Al-Qasim Idris and Abdulhaleem Idris were arrested at Omialafara (Omulafa), Ose LGA of Ondo State by operatives of the military and Department of State Services (DSS), Defence Headquarters said in a statement by Major General Jimmy Akpoer, Director Defence Information.

One of the suspects, Abdulhaleem, alongside other high-profile ISWAP commanders, had also previously coordinated attacks on military targets in Okene, Okene LGA, Kogi State resulting in casualties.

The Chief of Defence Staff, General Leo Irabor had at a media briefing on Tuesday announced the arrest of an ISWAP member, Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (a.k.a Bin Malik) at Eika, Okehi LGA, Kogi State on 1 August 2022 over the deadly attack on the Catholic Church.

Omeiza was arrested alongside other ISWAP members identified as Momoh Otohu Abubakar, Aliyu Yusuf Itopa and Auwal Ishaq Onimisi in a joint operation by the military and operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS.

The CDS said preliminary investigation revealed that Omeiza was the mastermind of the terror attack on the Owo Catholic Church.

He was also involved in the attack on a Police Station in Adavi Local Government Area, Kogi State on 23 June 2022, during which a policeman was killed and weapons carted away.

The terrorists’ attack on worshipers at the Church claimed over 40 lives with many more people injured.

Read the full statement by the Defence Headquarters Below.

ARREST OF 2 ADDITIONAL SUSPECTED TERRORISTS IN CONNECTION WITH THE OWO CATHOLIC CHURCH TERRORISTS ATTACK ON 5 JUNE 2022

Recall that the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor, during his parley with media executives and editors yesterday, Tuesday 9 August 2022, informed of the arrest of 4 terrorists among those who carried out the attack on St Francis Catholic Church, Owo on 5 June 2022.

They were arrested through a combined operation by military and DSS personnel at Eika, Okehi LGA, Kogi State on 1 August 2022. Those arrested include Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (a.k.a Bin Malik), Momoh Otohu Abubakar, Aliyu Yusuf Itopa and Auwal Ishaq Onimisi.

Barely few hours after the disclosure by the CDS of the arrest of 4 of the Owo Catholic Church attackers, 2 additional ISWAP terrorists, who were also connected to the attack on the church were apprehended at Omialafara (Omulafa), Ose LGA, Ondo State yesterday, 9 August 2022.

The arrests were made through the collaborative effort by military and DSS personnel. The suspects are Al-Qasim Idris and Abdulhaleem Idris. It is instructive to note that Abdulhaleem, alongside other high-profile ISWAP commanders, had also previously coordinated attacks on military targets in Okene, Okene LGA, Kogi State resulting in casualties.

It is the avowed commitment of the leadership of the military, Nigeria Police, DSS and other security agencies to work in synergy to enthrone peace and security all over the country. This is due to the need for collaboration as an essential requirement to successfully deal with the existential asymmetric threats currently bedevilling our dear nation, Nigeria.

JIMMY AKPOR

Major General

Director Defence Information

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Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has confirmed the arrest of five suspected attackers of St Francis Catholic Church in the Owo area of the state.

The governor’s confirmation comes after the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor made the announcement in Abuja.

On June 5, unknown gunmen stormed the church during mass, and opened fire on the parishioners, killing forty of them.

Two months after the massacre, Governor Akeredolu disclosed that the owner of the house where the attackers stayed before the June 5 attack in Owo has also been arrested.

A statement from Richard Olatunde, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, says the governor made the disclosure during a courtesy visit to his office by the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) led by the Chairman of the Council, Prince Leke Adegbite.

“Now that the military has announced it, I can tell you that five of them have been arrested now. They are still on the trail of the rest. The home where they lodged in Owo and the person that accommodated them before the attack, has also been arrested,” he was quoted as saying.

We did not spare a moment. I am happy that the Chief of Defence Staff has announced it. We have known for a while but we needed not to come out with it because more works are still ongoing. I can confirm that this arrest has been made. And they are still on the trail of some of them,” the statement quoted the governor as saying.

Governor Akeredolu has also called on leaders of the Ebira community in the state to warn their young ones not to copy the bad venture of kidnapping.

According to him, recent reports from victims of kidnap in the state have established that some Ebira indigenes are now involved in the unwholesome act.

He noted that the Ebiras have lived together with the people of the state peacefully for several decades, adding that they have always been supportive and hardworking.

“I want to use this medium to urge our brothers to concentrate on their farming trade. It will be unfortunate to know that the Ebiras in our midst are now involved in kidnapping.

We are appealing to them not to copy bad things. The traders selling by the roadside should not become informants. We are not fighting them.

We have seen their numbers, they supported and voted for us during elections. I will call their leaders and talk to them. Our brothers who were kidnapped on their way to Ikare, talk to them. They were taken to Ebira farmsteads.

For me, we have lived together for too long for this to happen. I am ready to make any effort to ensure that the conviviality that we have enjoyed continues. But we are begging their leaders to urge them not to copy bad things. They are in our midst, we are surrounded by them. The issue of security is key and it’s dynamic,” the statement read.

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Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor has announced that those behind the attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, have been arrested.

The Chief of Defence Staff made the announcement during a meeting with editors and media executives in Abuja on Tuesday, August 9.

Irabor said the suspects would be paraded after an investigation had been concluded into the matter.

He said: “Within the last time we met, we have recorded remarkable achievement. Let me bring it to your notice that within the same period, there have been ignoble actions of men of the underworld that have impinged on our collective well-being, namely the unfortunate train attack, the attack on Kuje correctional centre as well as what has been reported in the past the attack on the presidential convoy.

“Also, the Owo incident which was intended to bring man and women of the armed forces to present them in a form and shape that make it to look as if the nation is on a siege. We have arrested those behind the dastardly act in Owo.

“It was my intention to present them to the public, but because of the investigation still going on, I had to change my mind. I will like to say that in due course, the world will see them and others who are behind other daring attacks in the country.”

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Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has said that the Federal Government was too quick to link the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) to the killing of worshippers in Owo.

In an interview with Channels Television, Akeredolu said he believes linking the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) to the attack is questionable.

He said: “I reacted to that almost immediately because I asked what evidence they have.

“It is important to let us know because the security agencies were too quick to jump to the conclusion that it was done by ISWAP.

“But whatever it is, we stand by the position that it’s a trilogy that is operating in our forests and causing havoc. We just have Fulani herdsmen right in front, followed by these bandits, and again ISWAP; so, the three of them work together and they work separately.”

At least 40 people were killed and many injured when gunmen opened fire on worshippers at St Francis Catholic Church in Owo, the headquarters of Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State on June 5.

Akeredolu who also maintained that the activities of killer herdsmen, bandits, and ISWAP fighters are inseparable, also pointed out that terrorist group has always been quick to claim responsibility for attacks carried out by its members.

He added:

“So, we are not people who will buy the idea that maybe it is ISWAP, or bandits, or Fulani herdsmen; we have faced terrorism in Ondo State from the three.

“So, I don’t know how you want to separate them except you have concrete evidence.

“And our own contention is that ISWAP, most times if not all the time, takes responsibility for their action. When they do things, they say we have done it; they take pride in these heinous crimes.

“I expect that if ISWAP had done this, all this while they would have come out and own up but some of us have our fears that it is not ISWAP and we do not agree with that position.”

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Contrary to the rumour making the rounds on social media, the terrorists who attacked St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State last Sunday are yet to be found.

Some people have been circulating information to the effect that the perpetrators of the dastardly act had been found and arrested.

The Presiding Bishop, Living Faith Church Worldwide, David Oyedepo apparently fell for the hoax as he announced during the church’s Covenant Hour of Prayer (CHoP) on Saturday that the Owo attackers had been arrested less than the seven days he prophesied.

However, the Ondo State Police Command debunked the claim.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs Funmilayo Odunlami, said the report was untrue, noting that nobody had been arrested in connection with the attack.

She said, “There is nothing like that. We have called the police divisions there, they said there was nothing like that. We have called the Kabiyesi, Olowo of Owo, he said he was not aware of any arrest. So, it is the handiwork of some social media but it is just rumour.”

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The Federal Government has linked the members of the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) to the attack on the St. Francis Catholic church in Owo, Ondo State on Sunday, June 5th.

The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, disclosed this while briefing state house correspondents after a meeting of the National Security Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja today June 9th.

He said the government had been able to locate the perpetrators of the Owo attack and zeroed in on ISWAP terrorist group.

The minister, who briefed journalists alongside Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Baba Usman, said security agencies had been directed to go after the perpetrators of the act and bring them to justice.

The minister said the group was out to pitch Nigerians against one another and make it appear as ethno-religious war.

He said there was no ethnic agenda in the attack, urging Nigerians to unite and defeat the terrorists.

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Clergyman and senior pastor of Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo, has described the present government as the most wicked.

While speaking in his church recently, Oyedepo said he shouted this in 2015 but that Nigerians blindly went and brought in ”this wicked government”

Oyedepo said this while reacting to the recent attack on the St Francis Catholic church in Owo, Ondo State.

”Those vagabonds were out to kill people in a church in Ondo State, I can tell you this for free if they escape, God has not sent me. Their generation will smell. The people who sent them will smell. They shall be forgotten. They shall become a byword and a proverb. Their generations will rot.

The devil is scared but we are going to beat him hands down, flood him out of this nation. We are caretakers, imagine how the owner feels. Imagine how God feels, you think God is asleep. Oh God, to whom vengeance belongs, arise and mess them up, root them out, destroy their roots.

I curse their roots, it rots today. Their generation rots today.

Everybody living is created by God. In Church and out of Church. The church is the beloved of God, you can’t mess with the beloved and go free. We are the apple of God’s eyes. There will be sharp reactions from heaven.

I am telling you as a prophet. It is going to happen within days. They should hear me now, they have always heard me before.

All the gang up of hell against the well-being of this nation comes under a curse today. Everyone behind the insecurity in this nation, everyone behind the bandits, whether they are Boko Haram or Boko hell cursed be to them.

Zion is the place for the rise of giants in the body of Christ so they want to weaken people from being gathered. Any man standing in the way of God’s agenda is like a fool standing in the way of a 16-wheeler trailer. You will be crushed and the trailer won’t feel anything.

Now lift your two hands and pray in the spirit against these evil men and women. Everybody behind the assault on the Church of Christ. The Lord God judges them today. The vengeance of God reaches out to them today.

It is very clear that when the wicked rule the people mourn. I shouted this in 2015. I am not a propagandist. I am not a public speaker. I am not an activist. I am a prophet. You blindly went and brought in this wicked government. Nigeria has never suffered evil like this in our history and they still want to rule? Never!” he said.

Watch a video of him speaking below

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The Catholic Diocese of Ondo State has said that 38 people have so far been confirmed dead in the Sunday terrorists’ attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State.

Recall that the State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu had said that 22 people died while 52 survivors are on admission at the Federal Medical Center, Owo, St Louis Hospital, Owo and the Owo General Hospital as well as some private hospitals.

However, the Diocesan Bishop, Jude Arogundade, said 38 parishioners have been confirmed dead so far.

Arogundade told the Punch that the diocese has been able to account for 38 victims.

He, however, said some families picked up corpses of their loved ones and those could not be accounted for by the diocese.

He said: “People have been asking me about the figure of those who died. The figure that we can account for presently is 38.

“But we know that many people were taken to private hospitals. Even some people came to take the bodies of their loved ones. We are trying to trace those people so that we can have a recount for all.

“But in the catholic hospital, which is St. Louis Hospital in Owo, and the Federal Medical Centre in Owo, we have 38 bodies.”

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Governor Rotimi Akeredolu has disclosed that 80 people were affected by last Sunday’s terror attack on St Francis Catholic Church, Owa-luwa street, Owo.

Speaking on Tuesday, June 7, during a statewide broadcast to the people of the state over the incident, he said 22 people lost their lives to the horrific attack while 52 survivors are on admission at the Federal Medical Center, Owo, St Louis Hospital, Owo and the Owo General Hospital as well as some private hospitals.

Akeredolu said the attack was an attempt to test the will of the people of the State and Southwest, adding that the dastardly act has the brazenly possible consequence of invitation to national anarchy. The Governor also said “Yorubaland, and Owo in particular, have never been conquered before; and it will never happen.”

Akeredolu also promised to commit every available resource to hunt down the assailants and make them pay dearly, stressing that the state will never bow to the machinations of heartless elements.

He said: “The site, that is, St. Francis Catholic Church, Owaluwa, Owo presents a gory war-like scene. The Federal Medical Centre, Owo, the St. Louis Hospital, Owo, the General Hospital, Owo as well as some private hospitals in Owo were filled with the injured, most of who were in critical conditions.

“The most unfortunate part is the lives of innocent children cut down in their prime and some severely injured by the mindless attackers.

“At Owo, the anger was palpable. The tension was at an abrasive level just as the urge for reprisals was high. Without doubt, too, the ripple impact of this heinous act as well as the understandably angry reaction across the state could not have been different.

“I urge our people to be calm but remain vigilant. Do not take the law into your own hands. Leave the rest for government to shoulder. I have spoken to the heads of the security agencies. I can assure you that security operatives have been deployed to monitor and restore normalcy to the Owo kingdom.

“May I use this medium to express gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, who aside from his demonstrated concern, directed his Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON to visit the scene of this criminal act.

“The Nigeria Governors’ Forum led by its chairman, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, their Excellencies, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the Honourable Minister of Interior and Engr. Seyi Makinde, the Governor of Oyo State also deserve a special mention for their collective and individual show of love and empathy.

“We will remain eternally grateful to His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his donation of a whopping amount of N50 million to the victims and N25 million to the Catholic Church, Owo. The gesture of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum which donated N50 million to the victims is equally appreciated.

“The donations are to assuage the effects of the attack. In the meantime, I have directed that an account be opened to receive further donations from well-meaning individuals and corporate bodies who may wish to assist the victims of the terrorist attack.

“I am particularly enthralled by the wonderful show of solidarity from my brothers across party divides, especially in the State. It is heartwarming that we all have found a common ground to confront these monsters.

“In this regard, I thank the former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko and the entire PDP family. To all others too numerous to mention, your show of love, encouragement and goodwill are not taken for granted. You have displayed compassion and demonstrated an appreciable level of brotherliness.

“In the same vein, I commend the medical teams of the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, the St. Louis Hospital, Owo, the General Hospital, Owo and some private hospitals who showed love and participated in stabilising the victims in the various hospitals.

“We equally appreciate the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and BEDC for their assistance. I convey our gratitude to volunteers who assisted in evacuating the victims and the dead to the hospitals and mortuaries respectively.

“I also thank our people who had deemed it fit to voluntarily donate blood towards the treatment of the victims. They have lived up to expectation within the precinct of the available space and time.”

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One of the survivors of the Sunday massacre at the St Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, Stephanie Ajibo Olitex, has offered graphic details of the shooting that took place inside the church on the fateful day.

Stephanie who took to Facebook to celebrate her birthday, recalled that she came within inches of being shot dead where she hid behind a cupboard with her baby in her arms.

From her account, the terrorists started shooting from outside the church and many of the worshippers escaped from the church. She recalled that the gunmen entered the church to shoot those who were unable to escape.

She estimated that some 100 people were killed that day.

Stephanie, who hails from Nsukka in Enugu State, wrote:

“We were inside the church when they started shooting from the outside. People at the back started running towards the altar. Some jumped fence, our priest escaped through the sacristy with the help of our catechist. By the time I ran towards the Sacristy door, it was already locked by members who were able to reach there before me. I had to hide myself under the cupboard inside the choir room with the baby in my hand. He shot somebody right in front of me near the Sacristy door. He looked around, when he didn’t see anybody or sound, he went away. He was masked, loaded with Ak 47.

“Note that the distance between the heavily loaded gunman and me was like kitchen to dining. Our choirmaster who was hiding with us was shot on his chest before he ran into the room with us.

“I pray he survives the bullet.

“They killed children, youths and elderly. We’ve recorded almost 100 death and still counting… I came out alive and escaped through the fence that demarcated our church from the Palace of Olowo of Owo Kingdom and ran to the palace for the fear of the unknown.

“The baby with me is safe, I’m also safe.

“Happy birthday to me”

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