President Bola Tinubu has granted post-humous presidential prerogative of mercy to one of Nigeria’s founding fathers, Herbert Macaulay and 174 others across various categories.
The President also granted posthumous pardon to Major General Mamman Jiya Vatsa, who was sentenced to death over a treason charge in 1986.
This comes after a presentation by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, who conveyed the President Tinubu’s recommendations based on the report of the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy on Thursday at the Council of State meeting held at the State House, Abuja.
Macaulay, often called the “father of Nigerian nationalism”, who died on 7 May 1946 aged 81, was twice convicted by the colonial authorities in Lagos.
In 1913, while in private practice as a surveyor, he was reportedly tried for misappropriating funds from an estate he administered and sentenced to prison; historians have long debated the fairness of that prosecution.
Along with Nigeria’s ceremonial President, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Macaulay co-founded the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons. He was the party’s first president, which played a pivotal role in Nigeria’s struggle for independence.
Macaulay and Vatsa, a poet, was among the 17 people who received presidential pardons following the endorsement of the National Council of State, which met in Abuja on Thursday.
The President also pardoned four former convicts, including former House of Representatives member, Hon. Farouk Lawan, Mrs. Anastasia Daniel Nwaobia, Barrister Hussaini Umar and Ayinla Saadu Alanamu.
They were pardoned to enable them to integrate into the society, having demonstrated sufficient remorse.
Nweke Francis Chibueze, serving a life sentence for cocaine, was pardoned, along with Dr. Nwogu Peters, who had served 12 out of his 17-year sentence for fraud.
The Ogoni Nine: Ken Saro Wiwa, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel and John Kpuine were also formally pardoned.
At the same time, President Tinubu awarded national honours to the Ogoni Four —Chief Albert Badey, Chief Edward Kobani, Chief Samuel Orage, and Theophilus Orage.
In exercising his constitutional power of mercy, President Tinubu granted clemency to 82 inmates and reduced the prison terms of 65 others. He gave a reprieve for seven inmates on the death row by commuting their sentences to life imprisonment.
