Emmanuel Ogebe Esq, the Washington DC-based international human rights lawyer, has met with the wrongly convicted Adamawa State born death row inmate, Sunday Jackson.
In a memo to sent to the members of U.S. Congress and State Department officials who recently visited Nigeria on a Presidential fact-finding mission, Ogebe expressed gratitude to them and the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) for enabling his meeting with the “unjustly convicted death row” inmate, Jackson.
The memo, titled ‘Attorney met death row client Sunday Jackson after CODEL’ was copied to Congressmen and woman Riley Moore (West Virginia); Mario Díaz-Balart (Florida), Norma Torres (California), Scott Franklin (Florida),Juan Ciscomani (Arizona), Tom Cole and Chris Smith, including the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Riley Barnes.
The full memo reads:
Dear Honorable members of the Presidential fact-finding CODEL to Nigeria,
Thank you for your demonstrable concern for religious freedom in Nigeria and congratulations on a successful Congressional Delegation trip to Nigeria.
I have myself just returned from an annual end of year human rights status assessment in Nigeria which overlapped yours and wish to update you on some significant progress made.
As legal counsel to death row inmate, Mr Sunday Jackson, I again requested Nigeria’s federal government to weigh in on his pardon application for the third time since his unfortunate March Supreme Court judgment.
The GON reiterated that it was a state prerogative exercisable only by the Adamawa governor but would look into it.
I requested a visit to my client whom I hadn’t seen since he was relocated from the prison in his home state to a less accessible one in 2021.
Since the Federal government runs the country’s custodial facilities, they graciously facilitated my meeting with Mr. Sunday Jackson after over four years this week.
Mr. Jackson was in great spirits and highly relieved as he wasn’t informed ahead of my visit and was unsure if he was being transferred to the hangman.
He expressed his thanks to all those who have advocated on his behalf at home and abroad igniting hope for his life to be spared that was long gone.
I want to add my gratitude as well as the concern of the Congress and the visit of the CODEL doubtless played a role in achieving this crucial attorney-client meeting.
I have requested for a family visit for Mr Jackson’s parents who haven’t seen him in almost 11 years and his daughters, one of whom he has never seen. The GON assures me they are looking into that request this special Christmas season.
I am grateful for the Federal Government’s cooperation and positive response to these attorney and family visitation requests. In prior meetings, the Attorney General of Nigeria assured me that had this case been a federal one, it would have fit their parameters for a pardon. I appreciate the Interior Minister and the Nigerian Corrections Service for the courtesy and professionalism their staff showed my team.
I look forward to an opportunity to debrief with you on this and other findings from annual review report.
Sincerely,
Emmanuel Ogebe, ESQ