According to Vanguard, 50-year-old man, Lukman Adeyemi, has been pardoned by Governor Dapo Abiodun after spending 24 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Adeyemi, a native of Iwerele in Oyo State, recounted his ordeal, which began when he accompanied his friend Ismaila Lasisi to a police station in August 2000. Both men were arrested and tortured over the murder of a woman, and Adeyemi spent 15 years on death row at the Ibara Correctional Centre in Abeokuta.
"I was 26 years old when I had this problem. I returned home from work with my friend Ismaila Lasisi, who was told to report to the police station. I decided to follow him, and we were both arrested. We were tortured to the point of death over a crime I knew nothing about," Adeyemi recounted. The woman they were accused of murdering had been hired to fetch water at a construction site but never returned home.
Despite their appeals failing at the Supreme Court, Adeyemi's pleas of innocence were ignored. "I felt abandoned by truth itself," he said. It was not until June 2023 that a breakthrough came, thanks to Deputy Superintendent of Correctional (DSC) AbdulKareem Awesu, who introduced Adeyemi's case to Pastor Hezekiah Olujobi of the Centre for Justice Mercy and Reconciliation (CJMR).
Pastor Olujobi and his team investigated and found significant inconsistencies in the case against Adeyemi and Lasisi. "The two perpetrators confided in us that they were the ones who committed the crime and that Adeyemi and Lasisi were innocent," Olujobi explained. The CJMR forwarded their findings to the Attorney-General of Ogun State and the Board of Prerogative of Mercy, leading to Adeyemi's pardon on June 14, 2024.
Adeyemi expressed gratitude for his release, "Light shone upon me, rain fell on my head for the first time, and I saw the moon for the first time. I never knew I could pay for the sin of another man." Both Adeyemi and Lasisi are now at the CJMR Halfway Home for recovery and reintegration.
Pastor Olujobi emphasized the importance of justice and the role of his organization in uncovering the truth. "It is not about their story, it is about the fact that the record corroborated their story."
The news have generated some reactions, see the screenshots of some of the reactions below: