Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has pardoned the widely known “death-for-fowl” convict, Segun Olowookere, alongside his co-convict, Sunday Morakinyo.
Olowookere, who was 17 years old at the time of his arrest in November 2010, was convicted and sentenced to death by an Osun State High Court on December 17, 2014, for conspiracy to commit armed robbery, robbery, and stealing.
His case gained public attention recently after his mother appeared on a podcast, pleading for intervention in her son’s plight.
The story went viral on social media, prompting Adeleke to direct the state’s attorney general to begin the process for his pardon.
In a statement released on Thursday by the governor’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, the governor announced the pardon of Olowookere, Morakinyo, and 51 other inmates.
The statement partly read, “In line with the recommendations of the State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy, Governor Ademola Adeleke has exercised the prerogative of mercy towards 53 convicts serving various convictions within the Nigerian Correctional Service.
“Now know ye therefore that, I, Senator Ademola Jackson Adeleke, the Governor of Osun State of Nigeria, in exercise of the power conferred on me by paragraph (a), (c) and (d) of subsection (i) of Section 212 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as Amended), I am pleased to extend my grace and mercy unto the said inmates.
“Convict recommended for outright pardon for good conduct (capital offences) are: Sunday Morakinyo, Segun Olowookere, Tunde Olapade and Demola Odeyemi.”
Adeleke had reportedly on Wednesday directed the state’s attorney general and commissioner for justice to begin a full investigation into the case and initiate processes to grant the man a prerogative of mercy.
Olowookere was pardoned alongside his accomplice, Sunday Morakinyo, the governor disclosed in a statement on X on Thursday.
The claim that the duo got a death sentence for stealing a fowl went viral on social media. But the Osun State Judiciary has clarified that they were convicted for armed robbery, including robbing a poultry in 2010.
The governor said that 51 other inmates were also pardoned following recommendations of the State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy.
“In line with the recommendations of the State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy and in exercise of the power conferred on me by paragraph (a), (c) and (d) of subsection (i) of section 212 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As Amended), I am pleased to extend my grace and mercy unto 53 convicts serving various convictions within the Nigerian Correctional Service,” Adeleke said.
Adeleke said: “In the case of inmates convicted of simple offences, I have decided in accordance with the said recommendation to remit and forgive the remainder of the said sentences of the following 30 (thirty ) inmates in whole.
“I have also decided in accordance with the said recommendation to grant outright pardon to the following 12 (twelve) inmates convicted of simple offences.
“In the case of the following 6 (six) convicts sentenced to death, I have approved the commutation of their sentence from death to outright release while Ojekunle Timothy has his sentence commuted from death sentence to 15 (Fifteen) years imprisonment having spent at least 10 (ten) years in custody.
“The following 4 (four) convicts also have their sentences commuted from death sentence to outright pardon: Sunday Morakinyo, Segun Olowookere, Tunde Olapade, Demola Odeyemi.”
Olowookere and his accomplice were arrested in 2010 for breaking into the homes of a police officer and another person.
In line with the recommendations of the State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy and in exercise of the power conferred on me by paragraph (a), (c) and (d) of subsection (i) of section 212 of…
In 2014, Justice Falola of the Osun State High Court sentenced the duo to death by hanging after they were found guilty of breaking into the officer’s house and stealing his property.
