US Congressman Riley M. Moore has called on the Nigerian government to pardon Sunday Jackson, a farmer sentenced to d+ath for k+lling a Fulani herdsman in self-defense. Jackson was att@cked on his farm in Codonti Forest, Adamawa State, in 2014 by Buba Bawuro, a herdsman who had trespassed with his cattle.
During the att@ck, Jackson said Bawuro stabbed him multiple times with a knife. In defending himself, Jackson seized the knife and fatally st+bbed Bawuro in the neck. Despite insisting he acted in self-defense, Jackson was arrested, charged with m¥rder, and in 2021 sentenced to d+ath by hanging a ruling later upheld by the Nigerian Supreme Court on March 7, 2025.
Speaking at a US House of Representatives hearing on President Donald Trump’s decision to redesignate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), Moore criticized the verdict, calling it unjust. “I would urge the Nigerian government to consider pardoning Sunday Jackson. He was defending his life against a Fulani militant. That militant lost his life in the struggle, yet Jackson now faces the d+ath penalty. Where is the justice in that?” Moore said.
The Republican lawmaker’s plea highlights concerns over the fairness of Jackson’s conviction and raises broader questions about justice and self-defense in Nigeria’s legal system.
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