On May 26, SaharaReporters reported that Justice Nwite reserved judgment on the case and fixed judgment for a date to be communicated to parties, stating that hearing notices would be issued once the court was ready, possibly within 24 hours.
Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has fixed Wednesday, June 3, 2026, to deliver judgment in the trial of five men accused of masterminding the June 5, 2022, terrorist attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, one of the deadliest attacks on worshippers in Nigeria’s recent history.
On May 26, SaharaReporters reported that Justice Nwite reserved judgment on the case and fixed judgment for a date to be communicated to parties, stating that hearing notices would be issued once the court was ready, possibly within 24 hours.
The Department of State Services (DSS), which prosecuted the case, urged the court to impose the maximum punishment prescribed by law on the defendants, insisting that the scale of bloodshed and brutality witnessed during the attack demanded severe consequences.
Lead prosecuting counsel, Ayodeji Adedipe, in his final address, urged the court to convict the defendants and sentence them to death, arguing that the prosecution had established its case through what he described as compelling evidence, painstaking investigations, and intelligence findings.
