Adeleke pardons fowl theft convict, 52 others as Osun judiciary justifies decision

The leadership of the Osun State Judiciary has defended and justified the death by hanging sentence passed on a young man, Olowookere Segun, who was convicted of robbing a fowl while being armed.

The state governor, Ademola Adeleke, had waded into the matter after about 10 years since the judgment was handed down by one of the High Court judges in the state and granted the convict pardon.

Adeleke was moved to invoke his constitutional prerogative of mercy on the convict following outcries by his parents who claimed that the sentence was a miscarriage of justice and that their son was innocent of the crime of armed robbery of fowl slammed against him and the other.

In line with the recommendations of the State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy and in the exercise of the power conferred on him, Adeleke, yesterday, pardoned 53 convicted inmates, including Olowookere.

The 53 inmates are serving various convictions within the Nigerian Correctional Centres.

Adeleke, who disclosed this in his Twitter account, now X handle, said he decided following the recommendation to remit inmates convicted of simple offences and forgive the remainder of the said sentences.

But reacting to the backlash and controversies that the Olowookere’s sentence had generated, the Osun State Judiciary frowned on what it termed as distortion of facts from members of the public and denigration of the trial judge, Justice Olajide Falola (rtd).

A statement, titled: “Setting The Record Straight,” dated December 20, 2024 and signed by the Chief Registrar of the state judiciary, F.I. Omisade, justified the death penalty, saying the court acted in accordance with the constitution that spells out death sentence for convicted armed robbers.

Omisade said that Segun was 19 years old as against 17 years of age that was reported, adding that his co-convict was aged 18.

The statement, obtained by The Guardian, yesterday, reads: “Our attention has been drawn to the news making the rounds about a young man, Olowookere Segun, who was sentenced to death on December 17, 2014, by an Osun State High Court, Ikirun Judicial Division, presided over by Justice S.O. Falola.

“The facts of the case have been distorted and maliciously misrepresented to the generality of the people. What has been laid before the public domain is that this boy was convicted and sentenced to death for stealing one fowl.”

“The purveyors of this falsehood are mischief-makers and they have exposed their abysmal level of intellectual bankruptcy.

“An educated person does not need to be a lawyer before being well informed to know as a fact that a person cannot be sentenced to death for stealing a fowl, not even N1 billion, without being armed at the time of committing the crime.

“A person charged with armed robbery is mandatorily sentenced by the trial judge to death by hanging once the defendant or accused person was proved and adjudged to be armed with a lethal weapon at the time of committing the offence. The punishment prescribed by the law is for the defendant or accused person to be sentenced to death by hanging.

“Having elucidated the law regarding the punishment prescribed for armed robbery, it is apposite to throw some light on the case of this particular boy.

“The boy, Olowookere Segun and one other person, Morakinyo Sunday, were going about in Oyan town and its neighbourhood robbing innocent and unsuspecting people at gunpoint.

“Luck ran out on them in April 2010 when they were caught in action while robbing a poultry farm. Arms were recovered from them. They equally confessed to committing several armed robberies.”