- Justice Nwite granted the request on Tuesday while delivering on an ex parte application filed and argued by the DSS.
The Department of State Service, DSS, will conceal the identities of the witnesses who would testify in the trial of the five alleged Al-Shabab terrorists.
The terrorists were involved in the June 5, 2022, deadly attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, in which over 40 worshippers died.
The decision of the secret police not to make the identities of the witnesses public follows
Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja granting of its request to that effect.
Justice Nwite granted the request on Tuesday while delivering on an ex parte application filed and argued by the DSS.
A legal practitioner, Dr. C. S. Eze, who argued the application on behalf of the DSS, hinged the application on the need to protect the witnesses from possible attacks.
He argued that terrorism cases are so sensitive that witnesses must be protected on order of the court.
Having not opposed, Justice Nwite granted the request and ordered the DSS not to reveal the names and identities of those to testify in the matter.
The five accused persons are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris, and Momoh Otuho Abubakar.
Over 40 people were reported to have died in the bomb attack, while over 100 others sustained injuries.
The five defendants were arraigned on August 11 on a nine-count terrorism charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/301/2025 filed by the DSS.
They are accused of being members of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group, belonging to a cell in Kogi State.
The defendants are also alleged to have carried out the attack in furtherance of their religious ideology.
However, they had pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to them by an official of the court
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