A Christian farmer on death row after self-defence, Sunday Jackson, has been granted a state pardon.
Newsone Nigeria reports that the governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, on December 23, 2025, granted a state pardon to Sunday Jackson, a farmer who had spent about 11 years on death row after being convicted for killing a herdsman during an attack on his farm.
This online news platform understands that the state pardon was granted under the governor’s constitutional prerogative of mercy as part of a Christmas and New Year clemency exercise.
The decision was based on recommendations from the Adamawa State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy and was officially confirmed by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Humwashi Wonosikou.
Apart from Sunday Jackson, Governor Fintiri also pardoned two other inmates and commuted the remaining sentences of five others, citing good conduct.
Until 2015, Sunday Jackson was a farmer based in the Dong Community in the Demsa Local Government Area (LGA) of Adamawa State. Jackson was working on his farm in 2015 when Buba Bawuro, a herdsman, brought his cattle onto the farm, and they started feeding on his crops.
When Jackson challenged Bawuro, the herdsman, armed with a knife, attacked him, and although he was wounded, Jackson managed to retrieve the knife from his attacker and return the stabs. Bawuro later died from the stab wounds.
Although he argued that he acted in self-defence, the Yola High Court held that he was guilty and sentenced him to death in 2021. The ruling judge, Fatima Ahmed Tafida, held that Jackson could have fled the scene after disarming Baruwo. Jackson’s actions also carried a death sentence under Section 211 of the Penal Code.
The Supreme Court upheld the death sentence ruling in March 2025, to the dismay of human rights advocates and legal experts.
Meanwhile, Newsone reports that the state pardon granted to Sunday Jackson brings to an end a long-running campaign by human rights groups, religious bodies, and civil society organizations who had argued that he acted in self-defence.
Sunday Jackson had been remanded in Kuje Medium Security Custodial Centre, Abuja, up until his pardon on Tuesday
