By: Oluleye Oluleke
Bombs exploded and bullets rained at St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, on the afternoon of Sunday, June 5, 2022, when gunmen launched a deadly attack during worship.
By the time the violence subsided, more than 50 worshippers, including children, pregnant women, and entire families, lay dead in what has been described as one of the most shocking massacres in Nigeria’s recent history.
Eyewitnesses said the assailants, disguised as congregants, detonated explosives suspected to be dynamite before opening fire on worshippers. One of the priests, Rev. Father Andrew Abayomi, recalled the terrifying moments:
“We were about to round off service. I had even asked people to start leaving when we started hearing gunshots from different angles. We hid inside the church, but some people had left when the attack happened. We locked ourselves in the church for 20 minutes. When we heard that they had left, we opened the church and rushed victims to the hospital.” He said
The attackers, reportedly four in number, arrived in a Volkswagen Golf, which they parked at the church entrance. Corpses were later deposited at the Federal Medical Centre, General hospital Owo, as well as at Catholic and private hospitals in the town.
While initial reports estimated 25 bodies inside the church, the death toll was later confirmed to be much higher, with many others critically injured.
Among those who lost loved ones is Mrs. Adebayo Bimpe, the widow of Mr. Sunday Adebayo.
According to Mrs. Adebayo, both her late husband and Aderemi had come under the radar of Nigerian security agencies for their alleged association with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a separatist group agitating for an independent Biafran state.
Although both men are of Yoruba origin, she explained that they sympathized with IPOB’s cause due to what they perceived as political injustice and marginalization of the Igbo ethnic group. She alleged that Aderemi was a major financier of the group, while her husband was an active supporter.
In February 2022, military operatives allegedly raided their homes in Imo State twice in an attempt to arrest them, forcing the families to flee to Ondo State for safety.
On the day of the Owo attack, Aderemi had visited their home and accompanied them to St. Francis Catholic Church but reportedly left moments before the massacre. Her husband, however, was among those brutally killed.
“The Nigerian Police Force has since declared Mr. Aderemi wanted and is desperately searching for him. Given the grave danger, we advised him to leave Nigeria to seek safety overseas,” she said.
She disclosed that Aderemi and his family have since fled the country and are seeking protection, as his life remains at risk if he returns to Nigeria.”
The Owo massacre, which shocked the nation and the world, continues to leave deep scars on victims’ families. For Mrs. Adebayo, the tragedy is not just a matter of public record — it is a personal loss intertwined with a desperate call for protection for the last surviving brother of her late husband.
