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The Osun State High Court has issued a statement clarifying the details surrounding the sentencing of Olowookere Segun, a young man sentenced to death in 2014 for armed robbery.
The statement comes in response to public outcry and media reports that claim Segun was sentenced to death for stealing a single fowl.
The court dismissed these claims as “distorted and maliciously misrepresented,” describing them as the product of “intellectual bankruptcy” on the part of those disseminating the information.
“The facts of the case have been distorted and maliciously misrepresented to the generality of the people. What has been laid before the public dormain 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.” part of the statement reads
According to the statement, Olowookere Segun and his accomplice, Morakinyo Sunday, were convicted of armed robbery, not merely theft.
The court explained that the two men had been involved in a series of armed robberies in Oyan town and its surrounding areas.
In April 2010, they were caught in the act of robbing a poultry farm at gunpoint, with arms recovered from them at the scene.
The duo confessed to multiple armed robberies and were subsequently charged under the Robbery and Firearm (Special Provisions) Act. After a trial that spanned from February 2013 to December 2014, they were convicted of armed robbery.
The court emphasized that under Nigerian law, the mandatory sentence for armed robbery is death by hanging once the accused is proven guilty.
Also, The High Court condemned the narrative that Segun was sentenced for merely stealing a fowl, labeling it as “nauseating falsehood.” The court clarified that Segun was 19 years old at the time of his trial, contrary to claims that he was 17.
This clarification follows Governor Ademola Adeleke’s directive to review the case and consider a pardon for Segun, a move prompted by public outcry and appeals from the convict’s family.
