A United States federal lawmaker, Riley Moore, says his recent meeting with a Nigerian government delegation led by National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu was “productive,” revealing that Nigeria appears willing to partner with Washington to tackle Nigeria’s spiralling violence.
Moore, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, disclosed that the discussions in Washington, D.C., focused on religiously-tinged attacks and terror threats across Nigeria, particularly in the country’s Middle Belt region.
He said one of the key issues he raised was the controversial case of Sunday Jackson, a farmer from Adamawa State who is currently on death row after being convicted of killing a herdsman during a confrontation on his farmland.
According to the court records and rights advocates, the incident dates back to 2015 when Jackson, then 29, confronted a herdsman who allegedly drove cattle into his farm. The herdsman reportedly stabbed Jackson with a knife, but the farmer overpowered him, seized the weapon and stabbed him in return. The herdsman later died from the injuries sustained.
Jackson was subsequently arrested, prosecuted for culpable homicide under the northern penal law and, in 2021, sentenced to death by hanging by a Yola High Court. The conviction was later upheld on appeal, including by the Supreme Court, leaving a state pardon as his only options for lifeline.
Moore, who has consistently raised concerns about religiously motivated killings in Nigeria, argues that Jackson acted in self-defence and should not be executed.
“The meeting with the Nigerian delegation was productive, and it sounded like they’re open to partnering with the United States to stop these killings,” he said in a recent media appearance. “One of the first steps is to release Sunday Jackson, and another is to work with us to disarm militants in the Middle Belt.”
The U.S. lawmaker has also condemned recent abductions of schoolchildren and teachers in Northern Nigeria, insisting that, Nigeria must do more to rein in armed groups he described as “Fulani militants” operating freely with sophisticated weapons.
Jackson’s sentence has drawn widespread criticism from lawyers and human rights advocates who warn that executing a man for defending himself would set a dangerous precedent and further erode public confidence in Nigeria’s judicial system.
With Moore now tying Jackson’s case to broader U.S.–Nigeria security cooperation, pressure is mounting on authorities in Adamawa State and at the federal level to revisit the farmer’s fate as discussions
