A young man in Nigeria’s Osun State, Segun Olowookere, who was sentenced to death for allegedly stealing a fowl, has shared his harrowing experience of arrest, detention, and conviction with a local news outlet – after the state governor requested he be pardoned.
Olowookere, arrested in 2010 at the age of 17, revealed that the complainant in his case was a family member.
The incident that altered his life occurred in November 2010 when he was detained alongside another suspect, Sunday Morakinyo, in Oyan, Odo-Otin Local Government Area of Osun State.
The pair were accused of robbing a policeman attached to the Divisional Police Headquarters in Okuku, Tope Balogun, of two fowls and eggs.
Additional allegations stated that they conspired to rob one Oguntade Faramade of fowls and eggs worth ₦20,000, stole two mobile phones from one Balogun Taye, and attempted to rob one Alhaja Umani Oyewo.
The charge sheet also detailed an alleged robbery involving one Elizabeth Dare, who was reportedly robbed of a gallon of vegetable oil by individuals armed with cutlasses and a Dane gun.
Both Olowookere and Morakinyo pleaded not guilty to the charges when arraigned on January 30, 2013, before Justice Jide Falola at the Osun State High Court in Ikirun.
However, Olowookere was said to have made a confessional statement to the police, admitting to the crime.
Recounting his journey to death row, Olowookere explained how the police arrested him after they came looking for him at his father’s shop.
“I was at my father’s shop in Oyan after returning from school. My dad and I were discussing my university admission and suddenly, we heard gunshots, and everybody ran away except my dad and a few others,” Olowookere said in an interview with the Punch newspaper.
“My father was taken to a police van where there were some children. I was peeping out and could hear and see what was going on. The police asked my dad where I was, and he asked them what my offence was. When they couldn’t give him a satisfactory response, my father shouted at the top of his voice that I should run away because the police wanted to arrest me.
“But I was wondering what my offence was. So, I came out and went to meet them. I was detained at the police post in Oyan and was taken to Okuku Divisional Police Headquarters the following day. I met the children who were in the police van when they came for me sitting on the ground and eating rice.”
At the station, Olowookere said he was accused of being the gang leader of a group of children, aged 12 and 13, who allegedly stole the fowls and eggs.
Despite his denial, he claimed he was tortured to force a confession.
“I met Sunday Morakinyo at the station, and he told the police that he didn’t know me nor had anything to do with me. I don’t even know where he was arrested. All the children were released but Morakinyo and I were not,” he said.
“We were seriously tortured from the first day I got to the Okuku Police Station under the supervision of the DPO. The children who allegedly committed the crime were not beaten. He repeatedly asked me to admit and confess to a crime I didn’t commit.”
Olowookere revealed that the police had initially agreed to release him on bail if his father paid ₦30,000, but his father could only raise ₦20,000, which the police rejected.
“My dad left the station to look for the money. But before he returned the following day, we had been moved to the SARS office in Osogbo. The cutlasses that were given to me and Morakinyo to cut the grass were presented to SARS as exhibits and they were told we were armed robbers,” he explained.
After 17 days in SARS custody, Olowookere and Morakinyo were arraigned before a magistrate’s court on robbery charges and later transferred to the High Court, where they were sentenced to death.
According to him, the poultry farm where the broilers were reportedly stolen from belonged to his uncle.
“We are from the same Ajerotutu compound in Oyan. He was summoned to a family meeting where he said I was not among those who stole the fowls, but my name was mentioned by the children who were arrested.
“He told the family that he would discontinue the case. But he later came to court to testify against me,” the inmate narrated.
Olowookere denied making any statement to the police.
He dismissed the report that he was living in a six-bedroom apartment when the crime was committed, stating that he never lived alone as he was living with his parents when he was arrested by the police.
“I never wrote any statement to the police. My parents never had a flat, not to mention a six-bedroom flat. I lived with my parents until I was arrested,” he stated.
Asked why his lawyer didn’t object to the statement during the trial, Olowookere said, “I didn’t know anything, but I am sure I didn’t write any statement.”
The convict claimed that the second convict, Morakinyo, suffered mental illness while in detention.
Olowookere said the convict bled from different parts of his body after he was tortured by the police.
“He is now a mad person. He is at Ibara prison. He developed mental issues when we were tortured at the police station in Okuku and by the officers of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad. I am just lucky, and I believe God’s grace is over me.
“Morakinyo was bleeding from the anus, ears, nose, and on the head. The police did not treat him despite that. I cleaned the cell every day because his blood stained the floor. He was bleeding for the entire six days we spent inside the Okuku police cell before we were transferred to the SARS cell in Osogbo.
“We spent 17 days with SARS and Morakinyo bled every day. Some of the SARS officers noticed that he was not mentally normal again but others thought he was pretending, and from there, he developed full mental issues.
“When we were remanded at Ilesa Custodial Centre, the warders tried to manage his mental health but they didn’t have the capacity. His condition then worsened. As I am talking to you, he doesn’t recognise anybody again. His mother has stopped checking up on him.”
The inmate said his dream is to become a doctor and be useful to society.
According to him, he is already working with medical workers at his custodial centre.
He said he resorted to working with them when he couldn’t afford to fund a medical course at the National Open University.
The convict stated, “I first enrolled in Yewa College of Education, Abeokuta, Ogun State, after my sentence. It is my dream to study medicine, but it is not available at a college of education. I was later transferred to a maximum prison in 2016. But due to financial constraints, I couldn’t study my dream course.
“However, I was encouraged to train under the medical practitioners in the prison. So, I applied and I was accepted into the medical line in 2017. Since then, I have been working with the nurses, pharmacists, and doctors inside the prison.
“I believe I will be free one day, and when I regain my freedom, I will definitely go for medicine. I pray to God to set me free because I am innocent. I don’t know anything about the crime I am convicted for. I pray to God to give me the opportunity to prove my innocence to the world, and be useful to society. I am not a criminal; I have never stolen anything in my life, not to talk of robbing somebody.”
Governor intervenes
Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, according to a post on social media platform X, directed the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, to initiate processes to grant Olowookere pardon.
“I have received the report of a case of a young man reportedly sentenced to death by hanging in Osun State for stealing a fowl.
“Consequently, I have directed the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Osun State, to commence a full investigation into the matter and initiate processes to grant a prerogative of mercy to the young man.
“Osun is a land of justice and equity and must ensure fairness and protection of the sanctity of lives. I assure members of the public that this matter is receiving my direct attention with every sense of urgency attached to our response to the matter,” Adeleke wrote on X on Tuesday.
Former Attorney General urges caution
However, a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Oyo State, Mutalubi Adebayo, cautioned Adeleke on the matter, just as he warned against actions that could endanger judges and expose them to threats from criminals, potentially leading to loss of life.
He said, “The claim that the prisoner was convicted and sentenced to death for stealing a fowl is an outright falsehood and cheap blackmail, aimed at securing his release through underhanded means.
“The convict was a member of a notorious gang of armed robbers that terrorised residents of Odo-Otin LGA in Osun State before his arrest. He was fairly tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging by the Osun State High Court. There has been no appeal against the judgment in over 14 years.”
‘Illegal judgement’
Also commenting on the matter, a prominent human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, faulted the death sentence passed on Olowookere, describing it as illegal.
Falana, in a statement on Friday, said the high court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the case, knowing that Olowookere committed the offence as a minor.
He said, “We submit that the trial, conviction, and death sentence passed on Olowokere Segun were illegal, null and void in every material particular. Since it was not denied that Olowokere was 17 years old at the time of his trial, the Osun State High Court lacked the jurisdictional competence to have tried him.
“The case ought to have been instituted in the Osun State Family Court which is exclusively empowered to exercise jurisdiction in any criminal proceeding involving or relating to any penalty, forfeiture, punishment, or other liability in respect of an offence committed by a child, against a child or against the interest of a child.”
Falana added that even if a child was found guilty of armed robbery, he or she shall not be ordered to be imprisoned or subjected to corporal punishment or death penalty.
“Since the trial, conviction and death sentence passed on Olowokere Segun cannot be justified in law, Governor Ademola Adeleke has rightly granted him full pardon in exercise of the prerogative of mercy conferred on him by section 214 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he submitted.
Trial judge COMPELLED to retire
Justice Falola, who convicted and sentenced Olowookere to death, is known for handling controversial and intense criminal, political, religious, and other litigations.
Because of his courage, he was nicknamed Iroko.
However, the judge was forced to go on compulsory retirement on December 7, 2023, by the National Judicial Council after being found guilty of granting a Garnishee Order Absolute against Polaris Bank for the sum of N283,174,000.00 in a questionable manner.
Falola was said to have travelled to Lagos to visit the bank’s counsel and prostrated himself for him in his chambers on the issue of the Garnishee Proceedings, an action described as unprofessional.
The High Court judgement was, however, appealed in 2011 as the case is still pending at the Court of Appeal, Akure, Ondo State.
The newspapergathered that financial constraints were a major factor the case is still dragging at the appellate court.
According to reliable sources, two different lawyers handled the case before the service of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria was sought.
But the SAN is yet to appear before the court.
Follow the KOIKIMEDIA NEWS 🗞️ CHANNEL on WhatsApp