Key Points

• Priest recounts explosions and gunfire that killed over 40 worshippers in Owo.

• Witness helps move injured victims to hospitals during the chaos.

• Priest says he could not identify the attackers while rescuing children.

A Catholic priest told a Federal High Court in Abuja how armed men stormed St Francis Catholic Church in Owo on June 5, 2022, and killed more than 40 worshippers. His name was withheld for security reasons.

He spoke behind a protective shield and walked the court through the chaos that broke out during the First Pentecost Sunday mass.

He explained that the service was close to the end. People had begun singing the recessional hymn when a loud blast shook the building.

At first, he thought someone had fallen. Then he noticed a rush of movement inside the church and heard gunfire outside.

Two parish members locked the main entrance. An elder ran to the sanctuary and urged him to escape. He hesitated. He worried about the children who usually gathered around him.

He said that he and a few adults managed to pull the children into a small room connected to the church.

Explosions Inside the Church

While they hid, he heard three explosions. He described the third as strong enough to make the ground feel like it would open beneath them. Gunfire continued.

After a while, some parishioners came to the safe room to tell them the attackers had left.

He stepped outside with the children and saw his choir master on the floor with a gunshot wound to the chest. The man asked him to pray. He did, then rushed to find a car to take him to the hospital.

Bodies were scattered across the church grounds. Some church members who could still drive helped load the injured into vehicles.

He made two trips to the Federal Medical Centre in Owo. By his second trip, ambulances from the FMC and St Louis Catholic Hospital had arrived.

The emergency ward was full. People were crying. He said he could not bring himself to drive again after that.

Witness Could Not Identify Attackers

When asked if he counted the dead, he said he could not do that during the confusion. He also told the court he could not identify the attackers because he focused on getting children and other victims to safety.

He later gave a statement to the Department of State Services in Akure.

Trial Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned the case to January 13 and 14, 2026.