“Hanged by an Expired Judgment?”: The Constitutional Crisis in Sunday Jackson’s Death Sentence

By Mike Odeh James

 Yola

A shocking exposé by international human rights attorney Emmanuel Ogebe reveals a potentially fatal flaw in Nigeria’s judicial system: the death sentencing of 20-year-old Adamawa student, Sunday Jackson. Convicted despite his self-defense claim and sentenced to hang, Jackson’s judgment was delivered in flagrant violation of the Nigerian Constitution, according to Ogebe.

Jackson was arrested in 2015, accused of stabbing a Fulani herdsman who attacked him on his farm. By all accounts, the knife belonged to the attacker, and Jackson maintains he acted in self-defense. Despite this, after six years in prison, he was sentenced to death in 2021. The Supreme Court upheld this sentence on March 7, 2025, a full decade after his initial arrest.

Emmanuel Ogebe, a Washington-based lawyer renowned for his work in high-profile global advocacy, has brought to light a damning procedural failure: the conviction judgment was delivered a staggering 167 days after the final addresses. This directly breaches Section 294(1) of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, which mandates all judgments be delivered within 90 days.

A Legal Time Bomb Ignored

“The Constitution is not a suggestion — it is the supreme law of the land,” Ogebe stated emphatically. “This judge delivered a judgment 167 days after final submissions, she not only violated the Constitution, she wrote a judgment in the realm of forgetfulness, not justice.”

Ogebe argues that this judicial delay had devastating consequences.

“It’s no surprise the judge misstated critical facts — like claiming Jackson stabbed the herdsman three times in the throat when the medical report merely said ‘multiple stabs in the neck region.’ This kind of distortion is what happens when a judge forgets the facts. And when someone’s life is on the line, memory failure is fatal.”

When Judges Break the Law

The National Judicial Council (NJC) recently sanctioned two judges, Justice G.B. Okolosi and Justice Sa’adatu Mark, for violating this very 90-day rule.

“If the NJC recognizes that such delays are grounds for disciplinary action against judges,” Ogebe questioned, “why then should a man be executed based on a judgment that would have gotten the judge herself sanctioned?”

Jackson’s trial judge, Justice Fatima Tafida of the Yola High Court, has since retired, likely escaping disciplinary action.

“She may never face disciplinary action,” Ogebe noted, “but Sunday Jackson still faces the gallows. Is this the justice Nigeria claims to offer its citizens?”

Supreme Court’s Deafening Silence

Adding to the controversy is the Supreme Court’s failure to address the expired judgment, not even in a footnote of its 62-page ruling.

“The Supreme Court had an opportunity — and, I would argue, a duty — to raise this issue sua sponte,” Ogebe asserted. “Even if the lawyers failed to push it adequately, the constitutional breach is so glaring, so fundamental, that the apex court should have taken judicial notice of it without invitation. However one must concede that presently the onus appears to be on the affected party but nothing precludes the court from raising it suo moto.”

Sunday Jackson in a clemency letter from prison to the governor of Adamawa state pointed to the 2024 Ani v. State case, where the Supreme Court held that judgments delivered outside the 90-day limit resulting in a miscarriage of justice are liable to be set aside.

“In Ani, the Supreme Court showed it understands the devastating consequences of justice delayed,” Ogebe said. “But in Jackson’s case, it did not. That inconsistency is indefensible.”

A Checklist for Justice

To prevent future miscarriages of justice, Ogebe advocates for structural reform:

“Every appellate court should adopt a pre-review checklist. Before diving into the substance of a case, the court should first ask: was the judgment even validly delivered under the Constitution?”

Ogebe warns that over 6,000 Nigerians are currently on death row.

“How many of those judgments were delivered after the 90-day window? How many others are like Jackson — condemned not by the law, but by its violation?”

The Human Cost

Jackson’s clemency petition to Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State paints a harrowing picture. In his own words, he describes defending himself with his attacker’s weapon, spending nearly a decade imprisoned, and never meeting his daughter, born after his arrest.

“I have been devastated emotionally and mentally,” Jackson writes. “The prolonged delay confused the judge and led to a terrible miscarriage of justice.”

Ogebe emphasized, “This is not just a case of wrongful conviction. This is a legal horror story — a man sentenced to die based on a constitutionally expired judgment, with factually incorrect conclusions, and no judicial body willing to acknowledge the breach.”

Final Appeal to Conscience

Despite the judiciary’s apparent inaction, Ogebe remains hopeful.

“Governors in Nigeria have the constitutional power of prerogative mercy. If Governor Fintiri fails to act, he will be signing off not just on a life, but on a blatant abuse of due process.”

Jackson’s case, Ogebe concludes, “is not just about one man. It’s about the soul of our justice system. If Sunday Jackson is hanged, then we are all guilty — of permitting the execution of injustice after injustice has already expired.”