Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri has granted clemency to Sunday Jackson, the farmer who was sentenced to death after killing a Fulani herder during an alleged attack on his farm.
The decision was confirmed on Tuesday in a statement issued by the governor’s chief press secretary, Humwashi Wonosikou.
“Adamawa State Governor, Rt. Hon Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri CON, has granted pardon to Sunday Jackson who was sentenced to death,” the statement said. “The pardon is in commemoration of Christmas and New Year celebrations.”
According to the statement, Jackson is currently being held at the Kuje Medium Security Custodial Centre and was pardoned alongside two other inmates. “Jackson who is in Kuje Medium Security Custodial Centre has been pardoned alongside Joseph Eugene from the Medium Security Custodial Centre Yola new and Maxwell Ibrahim serving at the Medium Security Custodial Center in Kaduna.”
The pardon follows sustained international attention, especially from the United States, where Jackson’s case had become a subject of political and human rights debate. In November, the matter gained further traction after the U.S. designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern over allegations of violence against Christians.
During the same period, President Donald Trump issued warnings over continued attacks on Christians in Nigeria. U.S. Congressman Riley Moore also called for Jackson’s release, criticising his conviction for culpable homicide and death sentence by hanging for killing an armed herdsman who allegedly attacked him on his farmland.
Speaking during an interview on Fox News, Moore said, “But there’s a lot of things they can do, and one of the first steps is releasing Sunday Jackson, and another one is working with us to disarm these militants in the middle-belt of the country—the Fulani Islamic radicals that are there.”
