NIGERIA: Terrorists behind Owo Church killings have been arrested, Chief of Defence Staff announces Tuesday

*Barely one month after Amotekun’s acclaimed arrest remained shrouded in doubts

From the list of names, claims by Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), its US collaborators and some local media that Nigeria and Fulani people were killing Christians, citing the Owo Church attack, turned out to be false as the suspected killers are either Ebira or Yoruba. Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)’s Thursday’s revelations of many lies by CAN justified.

By KEMI KASUMU

The Hausa-Fulani community in Ondo State and, by extension entire Southern Nigeria, were again vindicated Tuesday as, unambiguously and verifiably, terrorists behind the dastardly attacks on worshippers of St. Francis Catholic Church, Owaluwa Street, Owo, in Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State, were announced to have been arrested and none is a Fulani man.

This was as the Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, announced arrest of the suspected terrorists behind the June 5, 2022 attacks killing several worshippers in the Owo Church.

Names of the arrested suspects as gathered included: 1. Momoh Ojo Abubakar, 2. Aliyu Yusuf Itokpka, 3. Auwal Ishaq Onimisi, 4. Idris Ojo and 5. Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza.

From the list of names, claims by Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), its US collaborators and some local media that Nigeria and Fulani people were killing Christians, citing the Owo Church attack, turned out to be false as the suspected killers are either Ebira or Yoruba. Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)’s Thursday’s revelations of many lies by CAN justified.

General Irabor made the arrest  known during a media parley with media executives at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) in Abuja, on Tuesday August 9, 2022.

Although Irabor did not provide specific details on the arrest, he said the military apprehended the terrorists in collaboration with other security agencies, which did not suggest connection with arrest announced one month earlier by Amotekun because, the announcement by the South West Security Network showed that it acted alone in its own acclaimed operation.

It will be recalled that hours after the attacks on the ill-fated Sunday June 5, the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, even before the police came up with its preliminary report, had called the attacks on the Church as declaration of war on Yoruba race by Fulani people, a statement which, like in the South East, nearly turned the South West region to war zone until Abuja disclosed footprints of terrorism in the attacks.

Governor of the state, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), however, faulted the Federal Government’s claims describing it as hasty.

Those unguarded utterances in the state, like across the South West, were degenerating to the point of widespread real and unreal news of attacks and stigmatization of Hausa-Fulani in the region, among which was a viral video with claims some Fulani people were amassing weapons in an estate called Buhari Estate in Badagry, Lagos, from where the video claimed they planned to launch attacks on the entire South West.

That time, it took the swift intervention of the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters in a statement by Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, to calm strained nerves as the Police High Command said Buhari Estate is its property, occupied by police officers and their families and, therefore, debunked the claims in the video as fake news. The Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba then ordered investigation of the evil video with an added instruction to arrest the culprits behind it.

The stigmatization of Northerners also led to the controversial last Friday’s arrest, by Ondo State Amotekun, of some Northerners fleeing banditry attacks in Zamfara into a safe haven in South West, and who were “wrongly” profiled as terrorists or invaders as reported by a section of the media in the region.

Defence Chief

The Chief of Defence State, General Lucky Irabor, speaking further on Tuesday, said the military had also killed many bandits terrorising the country while working to ensure the rescue of abducted victims of the Kaduna Train attack still remaining with their captors.

He said, “Within the last time we met, we have recorded remarkable achievement. Let me bring it to your notice that within the same period, there have been ignoble actions of men of the underworld that have impinged on our collective well-being, namely the unfortunate train attack, the attack on Kuje correctional center as well as what has been reported in the past the attack on the presidential convoy.

“Also, the Owo incident which was intended to bring man and women of the armed forces to present them in a form and shape that make it to look as if the nation is on a siege. We have arrested those behind the dastardly act in Owo.

“It was my intention to present them to the public, but because of the investigation still going on, I had to change my mind. I will like to say that in due course, the world will see them and others who are behind other daring attacks in the country.”

Recall that scores of worshippers including children were gruesomely killed, while several others were seriously injured during the June 5 attack on the church.

Days later, the Minister of the Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, in a joint media briefing with the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, in State House, Abuja, after National Security Council (NSC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, said the government saw footprints of terrorist group in the attack.