From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The 19 Northern States and Abuja Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has appealed to the Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, to pardon Mr Sunday Jackson, a farmer from Adamawa State who was sentenced to death by hanging for self-defence in an attack by a herdsman.
Jackson was sentenced to death by a Supreme Court judgment, but a statement issued on the matter by the Chairman of Northern CAN, Rev. John Joseph Hayab, said the decision of the court was contrary to the provisions of the Adamawa State Penal Code, Sections 23 and 24.
The statement noted that the Adamawa State Penal Code, Section 23, provides inter alia: ‘Nothing is an offence which is done in the lawful exercise of the right of private defence.’
‘The attention of the 19 Northern States and Abuja Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has been drawn to a recent Supreme Court’s judgment which sentenced Mr Sunday Jackson, a farmer from Adamawa State, to death by hanging for self-defence.
‘In view of the foregoing, the 19 Northern States and Abuja Christian Association of Nigeria appeals to His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Adamawa State, Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, to kindly, in the exercise of his constitutional duties and the Prerogative of Mercy, and in the spirit of peacebuilding and reconciliation, which both the state and the nation now desperately need, please pardon Mr Sunday Jackson.
‘Mr Sunday Jackson has truly been subjected to the excruciating pain of waiting for death in the midst of the shadow of death by the grave travesty of the misinterpretation of Section 23 of the Adamawa State Penal Code Laws and the unnecessarily prolonged trial that lasted six and a half years, which ordinarily should not have lasted such a lengthy period. We appeal to His Excellency to also consider the agonising wait for judgment Jackson was subjected to. It is our belief that the Executive Governor of Adamawa State, Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, will graciously accede to this humble plea.
‘Sunday Jackson was reportedly working on his farm when he was attacked by a group of criminals. In an attempt to defend himself, he fought back, overpowered his attackers, which led to the death of one Ardo Bawuro. However, despite Sunday’s plea of self-defence, he was charged under Section 211 of the Adamawa State Penal Code Laws for intentionally killing the deceased and sentenced to death, which we consider a grave travesty of justice.
‘Sunday was arraigned on 21 November 2018 on a one-count charge of causing the death of one Ardo Bawuro by stabbing him with a knife thrice on the neck with the intention of causing his death. The knife which Sunday used to stab Bawuro actually belonged to the same Ardo Bawuro that he had succeeded in collecting.
‘The statement of facts of the Appellant’s brief of argument was that the defendant testified for himself on the 27th day of February 2020, and the matter was adjourned to the 27th day of August 2020 for the adoption of final written addresses of the prosecution and defence counsels. Judgment was delivered on the 10th day of February 2021.
‘A calculation of the time between the adoption of final addresses of counsels on 27 August 2020 and the delivery of judgment on 10 February 2021 amounts to an excess of 167 days.
‘The 1999 Constitution was amended to afford expeditious dispensation of justice to litigants by the prescription of 90 days within which a judgment must be delivered from the close of final addresses.
‘By Section 294(5), judgments delivered beyond the 90 days prescribed by Subsection 1 of Section 294 are a nullity as they amount to a miscarriage of justice.
‘The facts of this case are a textbook case of miscarriage of justice: In the first place, Mr Sunday Jackson was held awaiting trial for a capital offence for several years – a trial that essentially consisted of no more than five sittings. Instead of a five-day trial, he spent over six years in custody in a non-controversial trial in which he did not deny that the death of the deceased occurred as a result of an altercation via self-defence.
‘Having spent all this time, Mr Jackson was further subjected to 167 days of agonising wait for judgment as to whether he should be freed or hanged, in violation of constitutional protections against such protracted delays.
‘It is highly regrettable that, notwithstanding the unambiguous provision of Section 23 of the Adamawa State Penal Code Laws, the trial judge went ahead to sentence Mr Sunday Jackson to death by hanging. Painfully, both the Appeal and Supreme Courts upheld this grave travesty of justice.
‘That the trial judge misinterpreted Section 23 of the Adamawa State Penal Code Laws to mean that Sunday Jackson had the option of flight when he was attacked and injured on his leg and not to fight in self-defence clearly distorted logic on its head by saying the plaintiff should have run away while having admitted into evidence that he was stabbed in the leg and thus momentarily handicapped,’ the statement said.