President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has granted a presidential pardon and clemency to 175 persons following the endorsement of recommendations from the National Council of State, which met on Thursday, October 9, in Abuja.
According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the President granted posthumous pardons to nationalist Herbert Macaulay and late Major General Mamman Jiya Vatsa.
Herbert Macaulay, one of Nigeria’s foremost nationalists and co-founder of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), who was convicted by colonial authorities in 1913, was also granted a pardon.
Macaulay was believed to have been unjustly convicted by the British colonialists and banned from public office. Macaulay died in 1946, but the stigma of being an ex-convict was not exorcised from his records until now.
The Ogoni Nine: Ken Saro Wiwa, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel and John Kpuine were formally pardoned as well. This is in addition to the award of national honours to the Ogoni Four- Chief Albert Badey, Chief Edward Kobani, Chief Samuel Orage, and Theophilus Orage.
He also pardoned former lawmaker Farouk Lawan and three others — Mrs. Anastasia Daniel Nwaobia, Barrister Hussaini Umar, and Ayinla Saadu Alanamu — after they were found to have demonstrated remorse and readiness to reintegrate into society.
Major General Vatsa, a poet and former military officer, was executed in 1986 after being convicted of treason. He received the posthumous pardon nearly four decades after his de@th.
The statement also confirmed that President Tinubu granted clemency to 82 inmates, reduced the prison terms of 65 others, and commuted the de@th sentences of seven inmates to life imprisonment.
The exercise was based on the recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy (PACPM), chaired by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, inaugurated the PACPM in January 2025 to promote justice, rehabilitation, and human rights in the country.
The committee reviewed 294 cases, recommending clemency for 82 inmates, pardon for 2, reduction of prison terms for 65, commutation of 7 de@th sentences to life imprisonment, and posthumous pardons for 15 ex-convicts, including the Ogoni Nine.
The committee’s criteria included age (60 years and above), terminal illness, youth (16 years and below), long-term good conduct in prison, and demonstrated remorse, among others.
On the whole, a total of one hundred and seventy-five (175) beneficiaries are recommended.
