By Oso Abidemi
Human rights advocate and social entrepreneur Oluwafunke Adeoye has lauded the rare display of judicial courage by Justice Helen Ogunwumiju of the Supreme Court in the controversial case of Sunday Jackson v. State.
Jackson, a farmer in Adamawa State, has spent over ten years on death row after being convicted of culpable homicide, despite evidence that he acted in self-defence. In 2015, he was attacked on his farm by a knife-wielding herdsman.
Stabbed twice—in the head and leg—Jackson managed to overpower his assailant and fatally stabbed him in the throat while trying to save his own life.
His plea of self-defence was dismissed at the trial court and later upheld by the Court of Appeal and a majority of the Supreme Court Justices.
In a lone dissenting judgment, Justice Ogunwumiju acquitted and discharged Jackson, holding that he was not the aggressor, faced imminent danger, had no safe means of escape, and used proportionate
