President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has granted presidential pardons to several notable Nigerians, including nationalist Herbert Macaulay and the late Major General Mamman Jiya Vatsa, who was executed in 1986 over a treason charge.
According to a statement issued on Thursday by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, the pardons followed the endorsement of the National Council of State, which met earlier in Abuja to consider recommendations from the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy (PACPM).
Macaulay, revered as one of Nigeria’s founding fathers and co-founder of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) alongside Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, was unjustly convicted by British colonial authorities in 1913 and banned from holding public office. President Tinubu’s pardon removed the lingering stigma of that colonial-era conviction, nearly 80 years after Macaulay’s death in 1946.
Also pardoned posthumously was Major General Mamman Vatsa, a poet and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, who was executed under the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida.
Other beneficiaries of the presidential pardon included former lawmaker Farouk Lawan, Mrs Anastasia Daniel Nwaobia, Barrister Hussaini Umar, and Ayinla Saadu Alanamu. They were pardoned after demonstrating remorse and readiness to reintegrate into society. Additionally, Nweke Francis Chibueze, serving a life sentence for drug offences, and Dr Nwogu Peters, jailed for fraud, also received clemency.
In a major reconciliatory gesture, President Tinubu also granted posthumous pardons to the Ogoni Nine activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others executed in 1995 while conferring national honours on the Ogoni Four: Chief Albert Badey, Chief Edward Kobani, Chief Samuel Orage, and Theophilus Orage.
Beyond the high-profile cases, the President granted clemency to 82 inmates, reduced the prison terms of 65 others, and commuted the death sentences of seven inmates to life imprisonment.
The presidential action followed 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). The 12-member committee also includes Chief Akinlolu Olujinmi (CON), Prof. Alkasum Abba, Prof. (Mrs.) Nike Ijaiya, Justice Augustine Utsaha, and Dr Onwusoro Maduka (Secretary), alongside institutional representatives from the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Correctional Service, National Human Rights Commission, and religious bodies.
According to the committee’s report presented to the Council of State, a total of 294 inmates and ex-convicts were reviewed, out of which 175 were recommended for various forms of pardon, clemency, or sentence reduction based on criteria such as old age, terminal illness, long-term imprisonment, or exemplary conduct.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, inaugurated the PACPM on January 15, 2025, as part of the administration’s broader commitment to promoting justice reform, rehabilitation, and human rights in Nigeria.
