Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has granted clemency to Segun Olowookere, famously known as the “death-for-fowl” convict, along with his co-convict, Sunday Morakinyo.
Olowookere was just 17 years old when he was arrested in November 2010. Four years later, he was sentenced to death by an Osun State High Court for conspiracy to commit armed robbery, robbery, and stealing.
His case recently gained widespread attention after his mother made an emotional plea on a podcast, calling for intervention in her son’s plight. The viral story led Governor Adeleke to instruct the state’s attorney general to review the case and initiate the process for a pardon.
In a statement released on Thursday by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, Governor Adeleke confirmed the pardon of Olowookere, Morakinyo, and 51 other inmates.
The statement read in part:
“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 sentences 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.”
