JUST IN : Nigerian gov grants pardon to man sentenced to death for stealing chicken

One of the governors in Nigeria, Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, has granted clemency to Segun Olowookere, the man widely known for being sentenced to death over the theft of a chicken, as well as his fellow inmate, Sunday Morakinyo.

Olowookere, who was just 17 years old when he was arrested in November 2010, was convicted by an Osun State High Court on December 17, 2014, for armed robbery, robbery, and theft, leading to his death sentence.

His case attracted widespread attention after his mother appeared on a podcast, making a heartfelt appeal for her son’s release. The emotional plea quickly went viral on social media, prompting Governor Adeleke to instruct the state’s attorney general to begin the process of securing his pardon.

On Thursday, the governor’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, issued a statement confirming that Olowookere, Morakinyo, and 51 other inmates were being granted pardons.

The statement 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.

“Convicts recommended for outright pardon for good conduct (capital offences) are: Sunday Morakinyo, Segun Olowookere, Tunde Olapade, and Demola Odeyemi.”