A prosecution witness from Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) on Wednesday told a Federal High Court that mobile phone analysis placed five men accused of carrying out the June 5, 2022 massacre at St. Francis Catholic Church at the scene of the attack.
Testifying as the 10th prosecution witness before Justice Emeka Nwite, the DSS officer said technical analysis of call data records showed that the phones of the defendants were active within the telecommunications cell site covering the church premises at the time of the attack.
The defendants — Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25), Al Qasim Idris (20), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26), Abdulhaleem Idris (25), and Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47) — are standing trial over the deadly assault that shocked the nation.
According to the witness, the DSS relied on phone records and cell site location data to establish that the first to fourth defendants were in the vicinity of the church when the attack occurred. He told the court that the analysis of their conversations and phone activity provided “sufficient technical evidence” linking them to the crime scene.
Beyond the digital evidence, the officer testified that the defendants voluntarily made confessional statements implicating themselves in the attack. He explained that the statements were taken in the presence of the Director of the Legal Aid Council after the defendants indicated they could not afford to have their personal lawyers or family members present.
The witness detailed how he obtained the confessional statements from the first to fourth defendants, maintaining that they were made without coercion.
However, defence counsel Abdullahi Mohammad objected to the admissibility of the statements, arguing that his clients did not make them and urging the court to order a trial-within-trial to determine their authenticity.
Justice Nwite overruled the objection and declined the request for a trial-within-trial. In his ruling, the judge upheld the submission of prosecuting counsel, Ayodeji Adedipe (SAN), that such a procedure is only necessary where the voluntariness of a statement is challenged — not where a defendant simply denies making it.
Adedipe had applied to tender the statements in evidence after the DSS witness, identified as SSJ, concluded his testimony on how the confessions were obtained.
Earlier, the ninth prosecution witness, identified as SSI, who led the investigation, reiterated under cross-examination that the defendants were arrested in August 2022 in Kogi and Ondo states and later interviewed in Abuja.
He told the court that all five defendants are members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), operating under a cell known as Al Shabab. He added that another ISWAP faction, referred to as the Mahmuda group, also operates in the area.
SSI testified that following the attack, the fourth defendant allegedly returned the weapons used to a man identified as Odoba and took back a rented vehicle used in the operation. He said the attackers drove to the church in a rented car but hijacked another vehicle from a worshipper leaving the service, which they used as a getaway car.
The witness further told the court that the defendants attended a planning meeting at Government Secondary School, Ogaminana, where Odoba allegedly instructed the second defendant to execute the attack. He said the gathering was followed by two additional meetings on June 3 and 4, 2022.
According to SSI, the assailants deployed explosives and fired several rounds of ammunition during the assault. He maintained that the DSS conducted a thorough investigation and that all evidence implicating the defendants was lawfully obtained.
He also stated that no other suspects, apart from the five defendants, were arrested in connection with the case.
Justice Nwite adjourned further hearing in the matter until 12 noon on Thursday.
