Gov Adeleke pardons Osun man sentenced to death for stealing fowl

Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has granted a pardon to a convict, Segun Olowookere along with his accomplice, Sunday Morakinyo.

Olowookere, it was learned, was unjustly sentenced to death after it was claimed that he stole a fowl.

Olowookere, who was only 17 years old when he was arrested 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, armed robbery, and theft.

The case resurfaced recently after Olowookere’s mother shared his story during a podcast, appealing for help regarding her son’s situation.

The plea attracted widespread attention on social media, leading Governor Adeleke to instruct the state attorney general to initiate the process for his release.

In a statement issued on Thursday by the governor’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, Adeleke 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 instructed the state’s attorney general and commissioner for justice to conduct a thorough investigation into the case and take steps to grant the man a pardon under the prerogative of mercy.