By Ademuyiwa Balikis
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has granted presidential pardons to several prominent Nigerians, including late nationalist Herbert Macaulay, former military officer Major General Mamman Jiya Vatsa, and ex-lawmaker Farouk Lawan, while also freeing 82 inmates and reducing prison sentences for many others.
The gesture followed the approval of the National Council of State, which met in Abuja on Thursday to consider recommendations from the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy (PACPM).
The Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy (PACPM) was inaugurated on January 15, 2025, by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume.
Its creation, the presidency said, represents a step toward promoting fairness, justice, and human dignity in the correctional system.
According to a statement signed by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, the president’s decision reflects his commitment to justice, rehabilitation, and national reconciliation.
Among those honoured with posthumous pardons is Major General Mamman Jiya Vatsa, who was executed in 1986 after being convicted of treason during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida.
Vatsa, remembered as a poet and intellectual, served as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory before his arrest. His pardon, nearly four decades later, restores his name to honour.
Also pardoned is Herbert Macaulay, widely regarded as Nigeria’s Father of Nationalism and co-founder of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.
Macaulay was convicted by the British colonial authorities in 1913 and banned from public service. Although he died in 1946, the conviction had never been formally erased until now.
President Tinubu also extended clemency to Farouk Lawan, a former member of the House of Representatives who once chaired the House Committee on Appropriations. Lawan was convicted for bribery in connection with the 2012 fuel subsidy probe but has since completed his sentence and shown remorse.
Mrs. Anastasia Daniel Nwaobia, a former Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance, also benefited from the presidential pardon. Nwaobia had been convicted for financial offences during her time in service but was recommended for pardon after demonstrating repentance and good conduct.
Another beneficiary, Barrister Hussaini Umar, a legal practitioner convicted of professional misconduct, was also cleared to enable his reintegration into public life.
Similarly, Ayinla Saadu Alanamu, a former university lecturer and public official previously jailed for corruption, received presidential mercy after serving part of his sentence and completing correctional programmes.
Others who received pardon include Nweke Francis Chibueze, serving a life sentence for a cocaine-related offence, and Dr. Nwogu Peters, who had served 12 out of a 17-year term for fraud.
In one of the most symbolic moves of the exercise, President Tinubu also granted posthumous pardons to the Ogoni Nine, environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others who were executed in 1995 under the Sani Abacha regime.
The president further awarded posthumous national honours to the Ogoni Four, Chief Albert Badey, Chief Edward Kobani, Chief Samuel Orage, and Theophilus Orage, as a gesture of reconciliation and justice for the Ogoni people.
The president also approved clemency for 82 inmates and reduced the prison terms of 65 others across the country.
Seven inmates on death row had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
The recommendations came from the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, chaired by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
According to the report presented to the Council of State, the committee reviewed 294 cases, including 175 inmates (160 men and 15 women) and 62 applications submitted on behalf of others.
Out of these, 82 inmates were recommended for clemency, two for full pardon, 65 for sentence reduction, and seven death-row convicts for commutation to life imprisonment.
Fifteen ex-convicts were also recommended for presidential pardon, eleven of them deceased, including members of the Ogoni Nine.
The committee applied humanitarian criteria such as old age (60 years and above), terminal illness, youthfulness (16 years and below), long-term imprisonment with good behaviour, evidence of remorse, and participation in vocational programmes while in custody.
Thursday’s mass pardon and clemency exercise, one of the largest in recent years, underscores President Tinubu’s stated commitment to a justice system that balances accountability with compassion.
