The Presidency on Saturday said President Bola Tinubu’s decision to grant presidential pardon and clemency to 175 Nigerians and foreigners, including late environmental activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Major General Mamman Vatsa, and other members of the “Ogoni Nine”, was part of efforts to promote fairness, justice, and national unity.

The Presidency also revealed that the President corrected a historical injustice committed by British colonial authorities against Sir Herbert Macaulay, one of Nigeria’s foremost nationalists, who was banned from public office in 1913 after being convicted of misappropriation of funds.

Tinubu had signed off on pardons for Sir Herbert Macaulay and 174 others.

This marked one of the most expansive uses of the presidential prerogative of mercy, touching on high-profile historical cases.

In a statement signed by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, the Presidency explained that the exercise was guided by the recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, chaired by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).

According to Onanuga, Tinubu’s gesture was extended to individuals who had either demonstrated remorse, exhibited good conduct, acquired vocational skills, or shown evidence of reformation during incarceration. Others, he said, benefited due to old age, ill health, or historical injustice.

“Illegal miners, white-collar convicts, remorseful drug offenders, foreigners, Major General Mamman Vatsa, Major Akubo, Professor Magaji Garba, capital offenders such as Maryam Sanda, Ken Saro Wiwa, and the other Ogoni Eight were among the 175 convicts and former convicts who received President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s mercy on Thursday.

“President Tinubu granted clemency to most of them based on the reports that the convicts had shown remorse and good conduct. He forgave some due to old age, the acquisition of new vocational skills, or enrolment in the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). President Tinubu also corrected the historic injustice committed by British colonialists against Sir Herbert Macaulay, one of Nigeria’s foremost nationalists,” the statement read.

Among the beneficiaries of the presidential pardon were Major General Mamman Vatsa, executed in 1986 for alleged coup plotting, and Ken Saro-Wiwa alongside eight other Ogoni activists who were executed in 1995 under the Abacha regime. Their posthumous pardon, Onanuga said, was part of Tinubu’s effort to “heal old wounds and promote national unity.”

A total of 175 convicts and former convicts benefited from the President’s mercy. These included two inmates and 15 former convicts (11 of whom are deceased) granted full pardon, 82 inmates granted clemency, 65 who had their sentences commuted, and seven inmates whose death sentences were reduced to life imprisonment.

Prominent among the living beneficiaries are Farouk Lawan, former lawmaker convicted for corruption; Professor Magaji Garba, former Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Gusau; and Maryam Sanda, who was sentenced to death in 2020 for killing her husband.

Sanda’s clemency, according to the Presidency, followed appeals citing her remorse, good behaviour, and the need to care for her two children.

Others pardoned or granted sentence reduction include convicted drug traffickers, illegal miners, and persons convicted of white-collar crimes, several of whom demonstrated good conduct or enrolled in rehabilitation and educational programmes while serving their terms.

The committee’s report, presented during Thursday’s Council of State meeting chaired by President Tinubu, also recommended that the sentences of some death row inmates be commuted to life imprisonment due to their remorse and long periods in confinement.

Onanuga said the exercise was consistent with Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which empowers the President to grant pardons and reprieves after consultation with the Council of State.

The Presidency emphasized that the decision was not taken lightly but was a product of extensive review and recommendations.

Previous reports had indicated that the move was part of a broader effort by the Tinubu administration to decongest custodial centres across the country and promote humane justice reforms.

The full list of beneficiaries, released by the Presidency, includes inmates convicted of drug trafficking, illegal mining, fraud, manslaughter, and other offences. Senator Ikra Aliyu Bilbis has also undertaken to oversee the rehabilitation and empowerment of all pardoned illegal miners. (The PUNCH)