Death sentence : Forum urges Fintiri to pardon Sunday Jackson

The Gogola People’s Forum has appealed to Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa to pardon Sunday Jackson, who had been sentenced to death by the Supreme Court,

By Ibrahim Kado

The Gogola People’s Forum has appealed to Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa to pardon Sunday Jackson, who had been sentenced to death by the Supreme Court, for killing a herdsman in a self-defence case.

Mr Markus Gundiri, Chairman of the forum, made the call at a news conference in Yola on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Supreme Court, on March 7, upheld the death sentence of Jackson, a farmer from Adamawa State, by a lower court.

Gundiri said, “The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) designed within its corpus a provision under Section 212, which allows for such a pardon.

“It gives the Chief Executive of a State the power to exercise his prerogative of mercy to pardon, grant respite to, or remit in whole or part any sentence imposed by the courts,” he said.

Gundiri said the aim of the news conference was the conviction and capital sentence passed on Sunday Jackson by the Courts following a fatal altercation between him and a nomadic herdsman which led to the demise of the latter.

“The herdsman man had attacked Jackson with a knife following which he wrestled the weapon from him and in self defence, inflicted injuries on the herdsman, which turned out to be fatal.

“Our business here is not to review the judgment of the courts, which had been delivered. That is not our brief .

“We are calling on Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri to grant a pardon to Sunday Jackson and save him from the sentence to death by hanging,” he appealed. (NAN)