Adamawa State Governor *Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri* granted a full pardon to Sunday Jackson on 23 December 2025, freeing him after more than a decade on death row. Jackson, a Christian farmer, had been sentenced to death in 2021 for killing a herder who attacked him on his farm in 2015. The governor’s chief press secretary, *Humwashi Wonosikou*, announced the clemency as part of Christmas and New‑Year celebrations, noting that the pardon was recommended by the Adamawa State Advisory Council on the Prerogative of Mercy ¹ ² ³.
The decision followed sustained pressure from U.S. lawmakers and religious‑freedom advocates, notably *U.S. Rep. Riley M. Moore*, who praised the release as a “major step forward” for religious liberty and U.S.–Nigeria relations ⁴ ⁵. Moore emphasized that the Nigerian government must now ensure Jackson’s safety.
Human‑rights groups and the *Northern Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)* welcomed the pardon, describing it as a correction of a miscarriage of justice and a sign of hope amid farmer‑herder conflicts ⁶.
The governor also pardoned seven other inmates as part of the same clemency exercise.
It would be recalled that TOP PEOPLE’S NEWS ON December 10 made public plea for the release of the condemned embatled farmer.
This gesture is a significant victory for justice and human right in Nigeria.
