Following a public outcry and controversy surrounding the sentencing of a suspect to death for stealing fowls in a poultry, the Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has ordered a pardon for him and other convicts.
It would recalled that Segun Olowookere, alongside his co-convict, Sunday Morakinyo were the centre of discussions after it became public knowledge that they were sentenced to death for allegedly stealing a fowl.
Segun’s case first went viral after his mother went on a podcast, calling for her son release.
According to reports, Olowookere was 17 years old at the time of his arrest in November 2010, and was convicted.
He was thereafter sentenced to death by an Osun State High Court on December 17, 2014, for conspiracy to commit armed robbery, robbery, and stealing.
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 action followed recommendations of the State Advisory Council on prerogative of mercy.
“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.”
Segun had alleged that he was detained for not being able to pay N30,000 bribe the police requested then, with his father only able to raise N20,000.
The Osun State governor, Adeleke had promised to look into the case with a view of pardon.
