- Agency Report
A nurse, who worked with the Ondo State Hospital Management Board, on Wednesday, narrated how she lost her legs and left eye in the June 5, 2022, terrorist attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo in Ondo State.
The nurse, who is the Department of State Services (DSS)’s 4th prosecution witness (PW-4), told Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja while being led in evidence by the DSS lawyer, Ayodeji Adedipe (SAN).
The witness, identified as “SSD” due to security reasons, gave details of how a dynamite thrown into the church hall shattered her legs and destroyed her left eye.
She said the incident occurred during the church’s Pentecost Sunday service.
The PW-4 said while the service was about coming to an end, they heard the first gun shot outside the church and they thought it was a banger the is thrown during the celebration.
She said when the attack became intense, she ran to the alter to lie down, where she met a lot of people struggling to save their lives.
“And a lot of people came after me and laid on top of me. I was there praying in my heart that God should save my family because I did not know the direction they ran to.
“I also told God to have mercy on me and that, if that is going to be my last day on earth, He should forgive me all my sins.
“Then, the gun shots continued sporadically.
“I heard a loud sound, which I believed to be a dynamite sound. Then, I don’t know what followed until everywhere became calm and I realised that I was still alive.
“Then, I touched my eyes, everywhere was bloody. I touched my leg, I could not feel anything, only what felt like rags and the dangling shattered part of my legs.
“Then, I could not talk, my voice was gone and could not hear well. I was hearing faintly.
“And, I was trying to call for help, but my voice was not coming out. So, then I started waving my hands and saying ambulance, hospital.
“I was taken to the hospital along with other victims and dead bodies.
“When I was receiving treatment in the hospital, I lost my left eye, and now use prosthesis,” she narrated.
The witness asked if the judge could permit her to remove the prosthesis for the court to see.
According to her, I also lost my two legs.
“The two legs were amputated above the kneels.
“I spent about five months plus in the hospital before I was discharged. Since then, I have been on wheelchair,” the witness said.
At that point, Adedipe applied to the court that that the witness, who was on wheelchair, be wheeled out to the middle of the courtroom for the court to see the amputated legs and the damaged eye.
Justice Nwite granted the application, and the witness was then moved to the middle of the courtroom where she showed the judge the damaged eye and legs.
She said no fewer than 41 worshippers died in the attack.
Under cross examination by the defence lawyer, Abdullahi Mohammad, the witness said she could not count the number of people with whom she was at the church alter during the attack.
On what could have affected her left eye, SSD said she could not say precisely, but thought it might have been the dynamite, because the roof at the alter was destroyed by the blast from the dynamite.
On how she knew that 41 people died in the attack, the witness said she did not know immediately but learnt about it when she came to life and started asking about what happened.
The witness said she also learnt about the number of casualties from the programme that was printed when the dead were being given mass burial.
SSD said she did not know the number of those who came to attack the church.
Also given his testimony, the PW-5, tagged as “SSE,” said he was a civil servant and the husband to SSD (the nurse).
Testifying, the PW-5 said he was in the church on that day with his mother, his wife and three children (two girls and a boy).
“The congregation gathered in the church, in which I and my family were not left out.
“After the mass, the priest now gave the final blessing for everyone to go. It was then that we heard the first gun shot outside the church.
“So, we thought it was banger that people throw to commemorate the event of Pentecost.
“But later, the sound continued, approaching fast, to the church.
“Then the MOD (Men of Discipline), who happened to be one of the church’s wardens, shouted that everyone should lie down.
“He (MOD) ran to the entrance door and closed the door. By then, the gunmen were already around the church’s premises but could not enter through the entrance door.
“They were then shooting through the windows and those that wanted to escape, they shot them outside.
“When the MOD discovered that he could no longer withstand it, he left the entrance door and the assailants gain entrance into the church,” he said
The SSE said the terrorists were first shooting those that wanted to run out of the church.
“But, noticing that those who wanted to move out of the small door at the same time were many, an explosive device was thrown to the place where people gathered behind the exit door, where I laid down.
“And, the device started exploding sporadically, one after the other. The whole church was full of dust and smoke.
“For long, no human being talked. When the device ceased, we thought they have gone.
“A woman stood up to see, and she was shot. And then, I buried myself back under the church pew.
“After a while, without anyone moving, I tried to raise up my head a bit.
“I saw one of the assailants hanging his gun on his shoulder, jogging to the altar, the sanctuary, and threw another dynamite there and ran faster than before out of the scene.
“For almost two to three minutes, the device was exploding, destroying both human beings and church structures.
“For some minutes, the church still remained silent until the time outsiders ran inside, shouting that they (the attackers) have gone,” he said.
According to him, it was then that I stood up, moved outside and even climbed some corpses on the floor, looking for my family members.
“Outside, I saw my mother and my two daughters, remaining my wife and my son. I went back to the church.
“My lord, you can imagine the feeling when I had to be searching and turning the corpses of young people on the floor to see if any of them was my son,” the witness said.
He added that while still searching for his son, he saw a woman on the floor whose lower part had been shattered and only sympathised with her only to later find out that the woman was his wife.
“I went out of the church, by the side of my car, a woman was shot there with her child.
“And some of the bullets that penetrated the woman also damaged my car.
“Thereafter, somebody called me that my wife is somewhere outside the church. I went there to see her.
“I discovered that it was the woman that I passed by in the church, which I did not recognise, but was pitying that turned out to be wife,” he said.
The witness said his wife was later taken to the Federal Medical Centre in Owo by another member of the church.
He added that on getting to the hospital, he handed his wife to a doctor, who happened to be a member of their church.
“At the hospital, I signed for my wife to be amputated, and her two legs were amputated. And we discovered later that one of the eyes was ruptured.
“As at today, she lives with no legs and one eye.”
The witness said after the incident, the Ondo State Government promised to give his wife prostheses for her legs, but that the vendor was unable to provide useful prostheses until the then administration of The late Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu left office.
He said he had called the current Commissioner of Health in Ondo State on the issue, but he failed to do anything.
Under cross-examination by Mohammad, the witness said the attackers used both guns and dynamites inside the church.
On where he was when the assailants entered the church, the witness said he was in the church and hiding under the pew.
He said he could see the attackers where he was but could not see their faces clearly.
On how many the attackers were, the witness said he saw three inside the church and one outside, who was shooting through the window.
Justice Nwite adjourned the matter until Feb. 10 and Feb. 11 for continuation of trial.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in the ongoing terrorism trial, the DSS is prosecuting Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25 years), Al Qasim Idris (20 years), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26 years), Abdulhaleem Idris (25 years) and Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47 years) as 1st to 5th defendants respectively. NAN