Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has pardoned the popular “death-for-fowl” convict, Segun Olowookere.
Olowookere, who was 17 years old at the time of his arrest 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, robbery, and stealing.
The Daily Crucible however reports that his matter garnered public attention recently after his mother appeared on a podcast, pleading for his pardon by the state government.
The story gained currency as trended on social media, nudging Adeleke to direct the state’s attorney general to begin the process for his pardon.
In a statement released on Thursday by the governor’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, Governor Adeleke announced the pardon of Olowookere, Morakinyo, and 51 other inmates, including Olowookere’s co-convict, Sunday Morakinyo.
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.”
