BREAKING: After 22 Years On Death Row, 64-Year-Old Nigerian Technician, Co-Accused Regain Freedom Over Generator Theft Case

A Nigerian man, Kolawole Oladeji, who was sentenced to death in January 2003 over a stolen generator, has regained his freedom after more than two decades in detention.

SaharaReporters learned on Tuesday that Oladeji was released alongside Ogbona Igbojionu, who was convicted alongside him in the same case.

The case drew public attention after it was spotlighted by popular TikToker Olumide Ogunsanwo, also known as Seaking, who actively advocated for the release of the duo and followed through until their eventual freedom.

In January, SaharaReporters reported that 64-year-old Oladeji was initially held at a prison facility in Ogun State before being transferred to Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison in Apapa, Lagos.

In an audio message exclusively obtained at the time, Oladeji narrated that he was arrested on October 30, 1999, after a generator—allegedly stolen by someone else—was brought to his workshop for repairs. Despite maintaining his innocence, he was arraigned in court in 2003 alongside three others and convicted of theft.

On January 14, 2003, the court sentenced him to death by hanging.

SaharaReporters also learned that Oladeji and Igbojionu were sentenced together with Sunday Oloyede and Segun Ajibade, whose current status was not immediately confirmed at the time of this report.

Kolawole alleged that Segun Ajibade, whom he identified as the main culprit in the case, was granted freedom in 2016 by the then Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun.

He said: “I am a Yoruba person and I have been in jail since 1999 for a crime that I did not commit. I am a generator repairer and they gave me a generator to repair.

“The person that brought the generator to my workshop for repair has been released by Ibikunle Amosun, former governor of Ogun State because he has people that have money. Since then, I have been left here alone. My mother has died and my wife has also died.

“On that particular day, a customer approached me to repair the generator and after repairing it, Sunday Oloyede came to pick it up and took it to the Ogbona. I didn’t rob anyone and I didn’t know much about the generator; I was just a repairer.

“In 2016, they released the guy who brought the generator (main culprit) to the Amosun government. He has gone home.

“Since then, nobody has come for me, nothing has been done in my case. The main culprit has been released. We are three here: the driver who brought the generator and the person who wanted to sell.

“We have been in jail since 1999. They tried the case and sentenced me to death on January 14, 2003. I have been on death row since that time.”

On March 22, 2018, the Court of Appeal, Ibadan Judicial Division, dismissed Oladeji’s appeal.

Represented by M.I. Omojola, Esq., the appeal was struck out by a panel comprising Justice C.E. Iyizoba, Justice H.S. Tsammani, and Justice Nonyerem Okoronkwo, following a notice of withdrawal filed by his counsel on March 2, 2018.

In November 2020, Oladeji wrote a letter to Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, requesting clemency.

In the letter, obtained by SaharaReporters, he pleaded for “mercy and pardon out of this predicament and imprisonment I am presently passing through.”

“Your Excellency Sir, my case started as far back as 1999 for a case of armed robbery and later sentenced to death on the 14th January, 2003. I am now spending years on death roll. I am pleading for total pardon and freedom out of Correctional facility so that I can re-unite with my family,” he said.

He told the governor that he had spent 21 years in prison, adding, “I shall be grateful if you can use your good office to grant me this pardon in good faith, I promise never to disappoint this State and Nigeria as a whole.”

On March 22, 2018, the Court of Appeal, Ibadan Judicial Division, dismissed his appeal.

Represented by M.I. Omojola Esq., the Appeal Court panel made up of Justice C.E. Iyizoba, Justice H.S. Tsammani and Justice Nonyerem Okoronkwo struck out the case after a notice of withdrawal filed by Omojola on March 2, 2018.