On March 7, 2025, the Supreme Court of Nigeria upheld the death sentence for Sunday Jackson, an Adamawa State farmer convicted of killing a Fulani herdsman, Ardo Bawuro, during an alleged self-defence altercation in 2018.
According to the Supreme Court judgment, Jackson had gone to harvest thatching grass on his farm in Kodomti, Numan Local Government Area, when Bawuro confronted him, accusing him of involvement in cattle theft.
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A violent scuffle ensued, and Jackson claimed that the herdsman attacked him with a dagger. Fearing for his life, Jackson disarmed Bawuro and, in what he described as an act of self-defence, stabbed him in the neck multiple times. Bawuro died from his injuries. Jackson then fled but was later arrested and charged.
Jackson pleaded self-defence at both the trial court and the Court of Appeal in Adamawa State. However, the higher courts disagreed, ruling that once Jackson had disarmed his attacker, any further use of lethal force was excessive under Section 221 of the Penal Code. The Supreme Court agreed.
“Once the threat was neutralized, the force used by Jackson became disproportionate,” the apex court stated in its written opinion.
Jackson’s legal team argued that his actions were justified under Nigerian law, which permits reasonable force in self-defence. They pointed to eyewitness accounts and forensic evidence indicating it was Bawuro who initiated the attack. Despite these claims, the Supreme Court held that Jackson’s retaliation surpassed the bounds of what the law deems “reasonable.”
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Justice Ridwan Adeyemi, in the majority opinion, wrote:
“The accused had the right to defend himself, but killing Bawuro by repeatedly stabbing him after disarming him cannot be regarded as a proportionate response.”
Jackson’s family and several civil society groups have decried the ruling, calling it a miscarriage of justice. Human rights advocates say the decision sets a worrying precedent for farmers facing herdsmen conflicts across northern Nigeria. They fear that future self-defence claims may not receive fair consideration in courts.
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Religious leaders in the region also weighed in, with some Muslim clerics arguing that Jackson’s actions were in line with principles of protecting one’s life and property. They have petitioned the Adamawa State Governor for clemency, emphasizing Jackson’s lack of prior criminal record and the broader context of violent farmer-herder clashes in the area.
Despite mounting pleas for mercy, Jackson now awaits the necessary gubernatorial clemency decision. Until then, his execution remains imminent, forcing many Nigerians to confront difficult questions about the balance between self-defence rights and judicial interpretation in capital cases.
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