Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has pardoned Segun Olowookere, a man sentenced to death in 2014 for conspiracy to commit armed robbery, robbery, and stealing. Alongside Olowookere, his co-convict, Sunday Morakinyo, and 51 other inmates also received clemency from the governor.
Olowookere’s case, dubbed “death-for-fowl,” gained widespread attention after his mother appeared on a popular podcast, pleading for justice for her son. Arrested in November 2010 at the age of 17, he was convicted by an Osun State High Court four years later. The case resurfaced recently, igniting a public outcry on social media.
Governor Adeleke, moved by the circumstances and public response, instructed the state’s attorney general to investigate the matter and begin the necessary steps for clemency. In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, the governor announced the pardon, citing recommendations by the State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy.
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.”
