The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in the 19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja has lashed out at the Supreme Court over a judgement sentencing one Sunday Jackson, a farmer from Adamawa State, to death by hanging for self-defence.
According to CAN, the judgement is contrary to the provisions of the Adamawa State Penal Code, Sections 23 & 24, stating that Section 23 of the Adamawa State Penal Code provides: “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 FCT Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has been drawn to a recent Supreme Court judgment sentencing Mr Sunday Jackson to death by hanging for self-defence, a decision we strongly believe is contrary to the provisions of the Adamawa State Penal Code, Sections 23 & 24.
Sunday was arraigned on November 21, 2018, on a one-count charge of causing the death of one Ardo Bawuro by stabbing him with a knife three times on the neck with the intention of causing his death, stressing that the knife Sunday used to stab Bawuro actually belonged to the same Ardo Bawuro, from whom he had succeeded in collecting it.
A statement issued by Rev. John Joseph Hayab and Bishop Mohammed Naga, Chairman and Secretary General of Northern CAN, said:
“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 August 27, 2020, and the delivery of judgment on February 10, 2021, amounts to in excess of 167 days.”
It explained that the 1999 Constitution was amended to afford expeditious dispensation of justice to litigants by prescribing 90 days within which a judgment must be delivered from the close of final addresses. It stated that 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.
According to the statement: “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 agonizing wait for judgment as to whether he should be freed or hanged, in violation of constitutional protections against such protracted delays.”
CAN noted that 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 Sunday Jackson to death by hanging, lamenting that, painfully, both the Appeal and Supreme Courts upheld “this grave travesty of justice.”
The statement opined 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 that he should not have fought in self-defence.
This, it argued, clearly distorted logic by suggesting that the plaintiff should have run away, despite admitting into evidence that he was stabbed in the leg and thus momentarily handicapped.
In view of the foregoing, the statement added that the 19 Northern States and FCT Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) appealed to the Governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, to kindly exercise his constitutional duties and “prerogative of mercy,” and in the spirit of peacebuilding and reconciliation—which both the state and the nation now desperately need—to please pardon Sunday Jackson.
The statement said: “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.”
CAN, therefore, appealed to Governor Fintiri to also consider the agonizing wait for judgment that Jackson was subjected to, believing that the governor will graciously accede to this humble plea.