December 23, 2025 | News | SUNTV Global
Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, has granted a full pardon to Sunday Jackson, the farmer who was controversially sentenced to death for killing a herder during an attack on his farmland, bringing to an end a case that has long troubled human rights advocates and rural communities.
Jackson, whose conviction sparked widespread outrage across Nigeria, had maintained that he acted in self-defence after being attacked while working on his farm. Despite these claims, he was found guilty, sentenced to death, and later transferred to the Kuje Medium Security Custodial Centre in Abuja.
For years, the case stood as a painful symbol of what critics described as the criminalisation of farmers caught in violent conflicts while trying to protect their lives and livelihoods.
That chapter came to a close on Tuesday.
Governor Fintiri, exercising his constitutional prerogative of mercy as part of the 2025 Christmas and New Year celebrations, approved Jackson’s pardon following recommendations from the Adamawa State Advisory Council on the Prerogative of Mercy.
Announcing the decision, the governor explained that the pardon was informed by the conduct and behavioural improvement of inmates while in custody.
“Therefore, in the exercise of my prerogative of mercy as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and in line with the recommendations of the Adamawa State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy, I have granted pardon to three persons and directed the remission of the remainder of the sentences of five others who have served various jail terms and have significantly demonstrated good conduct over the years,” Governor Fintiri said.
Although the official statement did not revisit the details of Jackson’s case, rights groups insist the pardon amounts to a quiet acknowledgment that the farmer should never have faced the death penalty.
The decision triggered relief and celebrations across Adamawa State, particularly among farming communities who had viewed Jackson’s conviction as a dangerous precedent suggesting that self-defence could attract the ultimate punishment.
Alongside Jackson, two other inmates were granted full pardons, while five others received sentence remissions. However, it was Jackson’s release that dominated public discourse, with many describing it as a long-overdue correction of a grave injustice.
For many farmers in the state, the governor’s decision has renewed hope that their struggles and fears are finally being heard.
