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Owo church attackers have ties to Al-Shabab – DSS

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The Department of State Services has urged the Federal High Court in Abuja to deny bail to five men standing trial over their alleged involvement in the June 5, 2022, terror attack on St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, which left about 40 worshippers dead and over 100 injured.

The DSS, in a counter-affidavit to the defendants’ bail application, warned that the men had alleged ties to foreign terrorist fighters linked to the Al-Shabab group and could abscond if released.

The defendants are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25), Al Qasim Idris (20), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26), Abdulhaleem Idris (25), and Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47).

They were arraigned on August 11 on nine counts, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/301/2025, bordering on terrorism.

The DSS argued that granting bail would endanger the safety of witnesses and compromise the trial.

It said: “There is a very high likelihood of defendants evading trial in view of their connection to foreign fighters linked to Al-Shabab terrorist group. The defendants’ accomplices are still at large and have been making frantic efforts to monitor their trial, intimidate witnesses and free the defendants from lawful custody.”

The DSS disclosed that it was “currently investigating the leads with a view to apprehending those individuals, planning to intimidate witnesses and compromise the trial in the interest of the applicants.

“The prosecution witnesses have expressed fears of attacks by defendants’ cohorts and have stated that they will not attend court sessions except their fears are allayed.

“This necessitated the filing of an ex parte application for witness protection.

“The prosecution has demonstrated readiness for a speedy trial of the substantive charge.

The defendants have not presented any evidence to show that they have credible sureties.

“It will not be in the interest of justice and security of prosecution witnesses to grant the application for bail,” the DSS said.

Defence lawyer, Abdullahi Mohammad, had, while moving the bail application on Tuesday, noted that his client’s had been in custody since they were arrested in 2022.

Mohammad said his clients were ready to present credible and reliable sureties to demonstrate their willingness to stand trial.

Prosecuting lawyer, Dr. Calistus Eze, however, urged the court to reject the bail application for being unmeritorious.

Eze stated that there are ongoing threats to would-be witnesses of the prosecution, which the defence lawyer was aware of.

After taking arguments from both lawyers, Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned till September 10 for ruling on the bail application.

Earlier at the commencement of proceedings, Eze told the court that although the case was scheduled for Tuesday for the prosecution to open its case, it would not be able to proceed because the DSS had handed the case to a senior lawyer, Ayodeji Adedipe (SAN), to lead the prosecuting team.

Eze prayed the court for an adjornment to a later date before which the DSS would have processed the necessary fiat from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation to enable Adedipe to fully take over the handling of the case.

Mohammad did not object to Eze’s request for an adjornment. He also did not object to another application by Eze, seeking the protection of the identity and other personal particulars of the prosecution’s witnesses.

In the application, the prosecution prayed the court to issue an order to protect the identity and other personal particulars of the prosecution witnesses and an order allowing the prosecution witnesses to testify while hooded and veiled off from the view of all other individuals except the counsel on both sides.

The prosecution also urged the court to issue an order to prevent the mentioning of the real names of prosecution’s witnesses in its orders, judgments or records which are accesibie to the public, and an order allowing witnesses should be identified with a combination of some alphabets.

In a brief ruling, Justice Nwite granted the application.

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Nigerian man and accomplice sentenced to life imprisonment for m8rder in UK

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Akinsoji, 27, a drill rapper and accomplice, Sundjata Keita, 27, of Cruikshank Road E15, appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday, 24 October, 2025.

They both received life sentences after the Metropolitan Police linked them to the 2017 m8rder through DNA evidence.

Akinsoji was jailed for a minimum term of 28 years, while Keita received a minimum term of 22 years.

A jury at the Old Bailey convicted the pair of a m8rder on Thursday, 9 October, in connection with the k!lling Ahmed Deen-Jah in East London.

A m8rder investigation was launched on Sunday, 2 April, 2017, after Ahmed – aged 24 – was stabbed during an unprovoked assault in a convenience store near Custom House station in Newham.

Detective Superintendent Kelly Allen, who led the investigation, said: “I hope the long sentences provide some measure of closure to Ahmed’s family, who have waited almost a decade for justice.

“Akinsoji and Keita launched a cold-blooded and unprovoked attack. Worse still, they then sought to evade the law – and were able to do so until 2023, when damning forensic evidence came to light.”

On the day of the murder, CCTV showed Ahmed entering the store on Freemasons Road, Newham, at around 15:20hrs, where he bought a cigarette lighter.

He was seen to return to the shop around 30 seconds later, being followed by a man wearing a balaclava. The man chased Ahmed around the shop, before stabbing him and running away. Ahmed was sadly pronounced d3ad at the scene.

Akinsoji and Keita were originally arrested as part of the investigation, within eight days. They were released under investigation as officers continued complex enquiries.

In 2023, an investigation review was carried out which included detailed phone analysis, placing Keita’s phone inside the car used for the m8rder. The car had travelled to Epping Forest following the murder, where it was later found on fire.

An evidence package – including forensic results from a knife sheath found close to the scene and DNA findings from the victim’s hand – was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service. This had shown a match for the two men’s DNA.

Following this breakthrough, the men were rearrested on Friday, 25 October, 2024, and subsequently charged with m8rder.

A trial for the two men began on Monday, 8 September. The court heard how Ahmed’s murder was a result of “tit for tat” violence between gangs, and that both men had been driving around the area in a stolen car, looking for people they suspected being in a rival gang.

CCTV played in court showed Akinsoji ambushing Ahmed and following him into the shop, before st@bbing him.

Following the conviction, Ahmed’s father said he was “overwhelmed with relief” for his mental health and thanked police for working hard to bring the killers to justice.

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EFCC arrests school owner for alleged visa and scholarship fraud in Uyo

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Operatives of the Uyo Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission , EFCC, have arrested an alleged serial fraudster Mrs. Imaobong Cyril Okpong for her alleged involvement in a series of visa fraud schemes and fake offers of foreign scholarships for nonexistent studies abroad.

A statement from the commission says Okpong was arrested following claims of a petitioner, Dr. (Mrs.) Blessing Nse Bassey, a clinician, that alleged that the suspect defrauded her of the sum of N3,000,000 (Three Million Naira) under the guise of securing a University admission for her and also processing Canadian visas for her and her husband.

‘’According to Bassey, the suspect contacted her sometime in February 2024 with a supposed opportunity to secure a scholarship and study visa abroad. She explained that she didn’t make any payment until the suspect signed an indemnity agreement, which she notarized before making the N3,000,000 electronic transfer into the suspect’s bank account.

However, after receiving the payment, Okpong allegedly became unreachable and started rejecting calls on her mobile lines as she completely failed to deliver on her promise and terms of the signed agreement.”the statement read

The EFCC added that Bassey claimed that the suspect had defrauded many victims, especially one of her friends “I met in China who got stranded in China when she got there and realized that there was no scholarship. Some of her victims had travelled abroad with fake documents that left many of them stranded overseas while some others faced deportation with huge financial losses”

The agency added that the suspect, an alleged owner of Michael Udonquak Schools , Mbierebe in Akwa Ibom State, will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.

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Canadian court deports Ondo pastor for bribing Nigerian police, fabricating asylum claim

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A Canadian federal court has ordered the deportation of Lucky Bidemi Olorunfemi, a pastor who was based in Ondo state, after discovering that he bribed members of the Nigerian police Force to declare him wanted as part of a fabricated persecution story to back his asylum claim.

Justice McHaffie of the federal court in Toronto delivered the ruling on October 16, upholding a decision by the refugee protection division that found Olorunfemi’s materials lacked credibility and bore signs of being doctored.

Olorunfemi filed for refugee status in 2023 after relocating to Canada.

He claimed that his pro-LGBTQ teachings and tolerance of gay congregants angered muslim jihadis who sought to take his life.

In one instance, he claimed irate Muslims torched his church and chased him to a police station in March 2022.

According to Olorunfemi, the incident led him to go into hiding for a year. It was from there that he processed his visa to flee to Canada.

To substantiate his claims, Olorunfemi submitted four documents, but McHaffie of the Canadian federal court questioned their authenticity, asserting they were riddled with errors and bore signs of fraud.

The Nigerian national was represented by Abdul-Rahman Kadiri in the matter heard in the Toronto court.

The documents include a newspaper excerpt reporting the attempt on Olorunfemi’s life, an invitation from the Nigerian police to question him about the incident dated April 2022, his wife’s medical report following an attack in June 2024, and a wanted poster “Issued by the authority of the Odoua [sic] peoples congress”.

But the refugee protection division picked holes in the documents, particularly that the newspaper report was so poorly written and contained blunders that it resembled brown paper journalism.

The judge noted that there was no direct link to the story, save for a generic website link.

Another red flag, the division noted, was that the wording of the newspaper report was almost verbatim as Olorunfemi’s allegations.

“The RPD next set out why it considered it more likely than not that the newspaper report, which was ‘riddled with spelling and grammatical errors and recounts the claimant’s allegations using language obviously similar to that of his narrative,’ was an example of ‘brown envelope journalism,’ fabricated at Olorunfemi’s direction.

“It made similar conclusions regarding the letter from the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the medical report, and the wanted poster, each of which had glaring authenticity concerns,” the judge wrote in his ruling.

McHaffie said the Nigerian pastor did not provide any credible reason to counter the RPD.

Also at issue was the wanted poster reportedly issued by the Odoua [sic] Peoples Congress.

Several misspellings, including Oodua as Odoua and Yoruba as “youruba,” and other inconsistencies led the refugee division to further doubt the documents’ authenticity.

“This led the RPD to conclude that the poster was fraudulent even without having to note that the poster, which bears Olorunfemi’s picture, identifies him as someone with a different name entirely,” McHaffie said.

McHaffie stressed that Olorunfemi’s wanted poster lacked any contact information, unlike similar letter specimens from the Nigerian police archived by the Canadian government.

The judge countered Olorunfemi’s assertions that the RPD denied his request on the basis of minor infractions, stressing that the Nigerian national had built his case on the documents and could not now turn around to label the discrepancies as minor.

He rebuked Olorunfemi for faulting the RPD for not making further enquiries to verify the documents, when it was Olorunfemi who submitted papers that lacked any contact details.

The medical report, according to McHaffie, only had a postal address and a Gmail address but no telephone number.

The court also noted contradictions in Olorunfemi’s testimony, including his claim of limited English language proficiency, which was undermined when the division saw he responded to his own counsel in flawless spoken English.

After hearing Olorunfemi’s arguments, McHaffie sided with the RPD that while Olorunfemi’s arguments were not credible, the only fact that could be established in his case was that he was truly a Nigerian based on his passport and testimony.

The judge dismissed Olorunfemi’s request for a review of his asylum denial due to his failure to remain consistent in his testimony and to buttress his application with credible documents.

“The application for judicial review is dismissed,” the judge ruled.

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