Gov Adeleke Pardons Man Sentenced To De@th Over Fowl Theft

Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has pardoned Segun Olowookere, a young man who was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to death in 2014.

According to a statement made by his media assistant, Olawale Rasheed, on Thursday, December 27, Olowookere and his accomplice, Sunday Morakinyo, were pardoned.

After Oloeookere’s parents agreed to an interview and demanded his release, the social media community went viral with the notion that the two received a death sentence for snatching a bird. He and his accomplice were found guilty of armed robbery, which included robbing a chicken in 2010, according to the Osun State Judiciary.

In accordance with the State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy’s recommendation, the governor pardoned 51 additional prisoners, according to a statement issued Thursday.

“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.

“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 de@th 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 taken into custody in 2010 after breaking into the residences of a police officer and another individual.

After the two were found guilty of breaking into the officer’s home and taking his belongings, Justice Falola of the Osun State High Court condemned them to death by hanging in 2014.