PFN Calls on Fintiri to Pardon Farmer Sentenced for Killing in Self-defence

John Shiklam in Kaduna

The Secretary General of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Bishop David Bakare, has appealed to Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa state, to pardon Sunday Jackson, the farmer sentenced to death for killing a Fulani herder in self-defence.

Speaking in an interview on Tuesday in Kaduna, Bakare pleaded with the governor to have mercy on  Jackson in the spirit of love.

“There are many reasons why we feel the judgement should be better,  but the Supreme Court has acted supremely,  but the governor should act by the mercy that is supreme over judgment.

“He should grant Jackson pardon in the spirit of love and for the fact that all of us are pleading for mercy from God,” Bakare stated.

On March 7, the Supreme Court upheld a ruling which sentenced Jackson to death for killing his attacker in self-defence. Jackson was reportedly cultivating his farm when the herder, armed with a knife, attacked him and stabbed him.

He was said to have overpowered his aggressor in self-defence, resulting in the herder’s death.

But in a ruling in 2021, an Adamawa high court sentenced Jackson to death for murder. The court held that Jackson had the opportunity to escape rather than stab his attacker.

Jackson’s counsel, Emmanuel Ogebe, an international human rights lawyer, had in an interview on Arise TV, criticised the judgment of the apex court, saying the world should be alarmed by “this very unfortunate precedence ”.

Ogebe recounted how he took on the case to defend the accused after recognising it as a clear case of self-defence. “This is really a sad day for Nigerians and their rights to self-defence,” he said.