A defendant in the trial linked to the 2022 attack on St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, has alleged that security operatives threatened to dispose of his body to crocodiles if he refused to admit involvement in the massacre.
Al-Qasim Idris made the claim on Wednesday, March 25, while testifying before Justice Emeka Nwite at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
He told the court that he and other suspects were subjected to ill-treatment during their time in DSS custody, which resulted in him being hospitalised for three days.
Following his discharge, Idris said he was moved to an underground cell where a female DSS officer, who did not identify herself, questioned him about the attack.
“After the three days, they took us from the hospital to an underground cell. Two days later, I was called out to meet a lady DSS officer. She said she was the one in charge of my case, but she didn’t give her name,” he said.
“She asked for my name, and I told her. She asked me what my offense was and why I was arrested. I told her I didn’t do anything. She said I was lying and not telling her the truth. I told her I was saying the truth, I didn’t do anything, and I was innocent.”
According to Idris, the officer warned him of dire consequences for refusing to confess.
“I would spend 50 years there, and my people won’t know, and if I die in the course of my detention, they will give my dead body to crocodiles to feed on because they had one,” he quoted her as saying.
Idris said he maintained his innocence and entrusted his fate to God.
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He further alleged that operatives compelled him to answer questions on a written statement, directing him to respond with “yes” to questions he understood and “I don’t know” to others.
The officer asked about his personal details including his name, age, occupation, and parents’ names. She also inquired about a phone contact saved as “Aunty” before instructing him to pray and returning him to his cell.
Idris recounted another incident involving a male officer he identified as Segun Kayode, who allegedly told him that authorities had ordered his killing but that he was being given a final chance to cooperate.
“He told me he had seen my case file, and they were ordered to go and kill me, but he wanted to give me this one chance. ‘Who knows, you may decide to tell us the truth’. I asked him who ordered him to kill me, because I know I didn’t do anything,” Idris said.
“He said if I refuse to tell him the truth, that it seems I want to spend 50 years in this place, and he knows I am not married, and I’ve not had a child. ‘Let me tell you, there are those who have spent that number of years here.'”
The defendant said he stood his ground. “I responded that whoever has spent that number of years here knows the offense he has committed. As for me, I won’t be that long here, because I did nothing.”
Idris also told the court that he and two other defendants were later questioned together about their phone locations at the time of the attack.
He explained that while his SIM card registered a nearby community called Omi-Alafia, he was actually at his family’s farm in Elegbeka with his father. He said the two locations were close enough to account for the apparent discrepancy.
Justice Nwite adjourned the matter to March 26 for continuation of the trial.