Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has commended governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State for his intervention in the case of Segun Olowookere who was sentenced to death for stealing a fowl.
Olowookere and his accomplice Morakinyo Sunday were arrested in 2010 for breaking into the homes of a police officer and another person.
In 2014, Justice Falola of the Osun State High Court sentenced the duo to death by hanging after they were found guilty of breaking into the officer’s house and stealing his property.
The case recently generated reactions on social after a mother of one of the suspects pleaded for clemency. It forced Adeleke’s intervention, a move Obi has lauded.
“I like to commend Governor Ademola Adeleke for stepping in to prevent the inhumane punishment of death by hanging for the theft of a fowl and eggs—an offense for which the individual had already spent 14 years in prison. That sentence alone far exceeded the demands of justice, if the crime warranted such consideration in the first place,” Obi said in a post on his X account on Friday.
“This case underscores the harsh inequalities of the Nigerian legal system. If you dare to speak freely, you are treated as a criminal and silenced. If you embezzle billions of public funds, you are celebrated, even when caught and taken to court. Yet, those pursuing honest, legitimate businesses are burdened by oppressive regulations and treated with suspicion, as though success through integrity is a crime.
“It is a system that rewards impunity while punishing integrity—a stark indictment of our need for urgent judicial reform and genuine accountability in governance. “
