The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday admitted the confessional statements of four defendants standing trial over the June 5, 2022, attack on St Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State.
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The court rejected the defence’s request for a trial-within-trial.
Justice Emeka Nwite ruled that the statements were admissible after hearing arguments from both parties on their voluntariness and authorship.
The four defendants — Al-Qasim Idris; his brother, Abdul-Halil Idris; Omeiza Abdulmalik; and his brother, Jamiu Abdulmalik — are being prosecuted by the Department of State Services on nine counts of terrorism over the attack that left more than 40 worshippers dead and many others injured.
The ruling followed the testimony of a DSS investigator, identified as SSJ, who told the court he interviewed the defendants and recorded their statements in connection with the attack.
“I am the investigating officer saddled with the responsibility to interview the defendants and take their statements in relation to their involvement in the attack of June 2022 at St Francis Church in Owo, Ondo State,” he said.
SSJ stated that he administered cautionary words before taking the statements of the first to fourth defendants individually.
“They informed me that they cannot write in English, despite the fact that they can speak English, though pidgin,” he said.
He added that he asked whether they had a lawyer, family member or any other person who could serve as a witness.
“However, they responded negatively. At this point, the Director of Legal Aid Council was invited to serve as a witness as I took voluntary confessional statements from the first to fourth defendants,” he testified.
According to him, after the statements were taken, a senior investigating officer, in the presence of the Director of the Legal Aid Council, confirmed from each defendant whether the statements were their own and made voluntarily.
“Then, each of the statements was read to them one after the other, as what they actually said orally, and they all answered in the affirmative,” he said.
He stated that the defendants appended their signatures, dated and thumbprinted the statements voluntarily.
“Thereafter, I signed each of the statements they made. Then the Senior investigating officer countersigned each of the statements, and the Director of Legal Aid Council signed as a witness to each of the confessional statements,” SSJ added.
The prosecution subsequently tendered the four statements in evidence.
However, defence counsel, A.A. Muhammad, objected to their admissibility, arguing that only two of the defendants could not write and alleging that the statements were obtained in Akure under duress.
He contended that the documents were stamped at the DSS headquarters in Abuja without proper dates or visible thumbprints and alleged that the defendants were “tortured seriously” before the statements were recorded.
The defence urged the court to order a trial-within-trial to determine the circumstances under which the statements were obtained.
In response, the prosecution argued that the objection related to authorship rather than voluntariness, maintaining that a trial-within-trial was required only where voluntariness was in dispute.
After hearing the arguments, Justice Nwite overruled the objection.
“I am of the view that the statements are admissible… The objection of the defence is hereby overruled,” the judge held.
He admitted the statements of the first to fourth defendants made on August 18, 2022, marking them as Exhibits O, P, Q and R.
The matter was adjourned to February 19, 2026, for continuation of the trial and cross-examination of the witness.
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