Osun judiciary reacts to criticism over death sentence imposed on ‘fowl thief’

The Osun State judiciary Thursday justified the death penalty imposed 10 years ago on fowl thief convict Segun Olowokere and his accomplice, Sunday Morakinyo.

Mr Olowokere and his co-suspected were arrested in Oyan, Odo-Otin Local Government of Osun State in November 2010. They were sentenced to death by the Osun State High Court, Ikirun Division, on 17 December 2014.

Speaking through the Chief Registrar of Osun State High, F. I. Omisade, state’s judiciary said the facts of the case had been distorted and maliciously misrepresented to the generality of the people.

“What has been laid before the public domain is that this boy was convicted and sentenced to death for stealing one fowl.

“The purveyors of this falsehood are mischief makers, and they have exposed their abysmal level of intellectual bankruptcy,” the statement read.

Governor Ademola Adeleke had announced move to pardon Mr Olowokere following uproar on social media after the convict’s mother claimed that her son was sentenced to life imprisonment for “stealing fowl.”

Social media buzz suggested that Mr Olowokere was a minor at the time of his arrest and conviction

Human rights activist and lawyer, Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, was part of notable figures that have urged Governor Adeleke to pardon the two convicts.

Femi Falana

But state’s judiciary said Thursday that, unknown to many people, records showed that the two convicts had a history of robbery.

According to the chief registrar’s statement, both of them “were going about in Oyan town and its neighbourhood robbing innocent and unsuspecting people at gunpoint.”

“Luck ran out on them in April 2010 when they were caught in action while robbing a poultry farm. Arms were recovered from them. They equally confessed to committing several armed robberies,” the statement added.

It added that the punishment prescribed by the law for such offences was hanging to death.

“They were charged before the High Court of Justice, Ikirun Judicial Division presided over then by Hon. Justice S.O. Falola. After a full trial which lasted from 11 February 2013 to 17 December 2014 they were found guilty and convicted of armed robbery,” the statement said.

Underage controversy

The chief registrar further noted that Mr Olowookere was not underage when he committed the crime and prosecuted as alleged on social media.

He said the convict was 19 years old, and not 17 years old then.

“His extra judicial statement and the information upon which they were tried attest to this. The second accused person, Morakinyo, was 18 years as at that time,” he added.

He further urged the general public to look into the facts of the case, and not malign the personality of the trial judge and denigrate the Osun State High Court as an institution.

“The trial judge, in His Lordship’s characteristic magnanimity, large heart and fatherly disposition, did what the law prescribed and went further to recommend them for mercy of the governor,” he added.

Background

Messrs Olowookere and Morakinyo were arrested in Oyan, Odo-Otin Local Government of Osun State in November 2010. They were accused of robbing Tope Balogun – a policeman attached to the Divisional Police Headquarters, Okuku, of two fowls and eggs.

On 30 January 2013, the police arraigned them before Justice Jide Falola of the state High Court in Ikirun for robbery and stealing.

Messrs Olowookere and Morakinyo were said to have “conspired in November 2010 to rob one Oguntade Faramade of his fowls and eggs worth N20,000.”

They were also accused of “robbing one Balogun Taye of his two mobile phones and attempting to rob another person, Alhaja Umani Oyewo, in her house.”

According to the charges, the convicts were armed with cutlasses and a Dane gun to rob one Elizabeth Dare of a gallon of vegetable oil.

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Both of them pleaded not guilty to the charges after they were caught.

However, Mr Olowooke was said to have made a confessional statement to the police in which he admitted to committing the crime.

On 17 December 2014, the trial judge, Mr Falola, convicted and sentenced the two of them to death for conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and life imprisonment (or robbery, and three years’ imprisonment for stealing.