Supreme Court Justice Hellen Ogunwunmiju has made a plea for clemency for a controversial death row case of Sunday Jackson, urging the Governor of Adamawa State to consider sparing the convicted man’s life.
Justice Ogunwunmiju was the lone dissenter in the recent Supreme Court ruling that upheld Jackson’s death sentence, which stemmed from a protracted legal battle dating back several years.
While the majority of the justices affirmed the lower court’s judgment, Justice Ogunwunmiju offered a detailed and empathetic dissent, highlighting significant mitigating circumstances that, in her view, warranted executive mercy.
Lawyers for Sunday Jackson, a death row inmate convicted of killing a Fulani herder, have urged Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri to grant clemency in a case that continues to spark national discussion. They have cited strong evidence of Jackson’s self-defence and a dissenting Supreme Court ruling.
Appearing on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels TV on Friday, human rights lawyers Emmanuel Ogebe and Ibrahim Wali offered a detailed narration of the tragic events that led to Jackson’s conviction, while urging the Governor to exercise his powers under the prerogative of mercy.
According to the lawyers, Jackson, a farmer in Adamawa State, was tending his field when a Fulani herder approached, asking about the whereabouts of certain individuals. Jackson, unaware of their presence, said he hadn’t seen anyone. The encounter turned hostile when the herder allegedly drove his cattle into Jackson’s farmland, destroying his crops. An altercation ensued after Jackson protested the damage.
The confrontation escalated into a life-or-death struggle. As recounted by Jackson’s legal team, the herder allegedly stabbed him twice—once in the back and again in the leg—before Jackson managed to wrestle the weapon from his attacker and deliver a fatal stab in self-defense.
Despite the circumstances, Jackson was arrested, charged with murder, and convicted by the High Court of Yola in 2020. His lawyer, Abubakar Akanni, immediately filed an appeal, arguing that Jackson acted in self-defense—a right protected under Nigeria’s Constitution.
However, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, and in 2022, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence in a 4–1 split decision. The sole dissenting voice, Justice Helen Moronkeji Ogunwumiju, issued a strong rebuttal of the majority judgment and passionately appealed for clemency from the executive arm of government.
According to lawyer Emanuel Ogebe, “This is clearly a vindication of Sunday Jackson but for any right-thinking member of the public. Because, the issue of self-defence is intrinsic to every single human being on the planet. So, all of us have a … reaction to a judgement that seems to be a against that we do not have … Justice Ogunwumiju has preserved our fundamental right to self-defence as enshrined in the Constitution. The governor of Adamawa state needs nothing further that to issue clemency or pardon for Jackson at this point.”
Echoing similar sentiments, legal analyst Ibrahim Wali praised Justice Ogunwumiju’s dissent as “a stellar jurisprudential rendition.” He added, “Her Lordship didn’t just rely on the agreed facts; she delved deeply into the records, including Jackson’s own testimony in court, to conclude that this was a case of clear self-defense.”
Now that all judicial options have been exhausted, the legal team is turning to Governor Fintiri to exercise executive clemency, a constitutional power enshrined in Section 212 of the Nigerian Constitution and supported by the Adamawa State Administration of Criminal Justice Law. The provision empowers the Governor to grant pardons, commute sentences, or suspend punishments if compelling grounds exist.
The case has reignited national discourse around the long-standing and often violent farmer-herder conflicts, which have claimed numerous lives and exposed deep-seated tensions over land, identity, and survival in Nigeria’s Middle Belt and Northern regions.
Advocates argue that Sunday Jackson’s fate could set a critical precedent in cases involving self-defense in the context of Nigeria’s complex security and communal dynamics. For now, all eyes are on Governor Fintiri to determine whether justice will ultimately be tempered with mercy.
