The Council of State on Thursday approved the exercise of the presidential prerogative of mercy for 175 persons across various categories.
The decision followed a presentation by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who conveyed President Bola Tinubu’s recommendations based on the report of the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, at Thursday’s Council of State meeting held at the State House, Abuja.
Although the full names of the beneficiaries are yet to be published, our correspondent gathered that pardons were granted to one of Nigeria’s founding fathers, Herbert Macaulay and former FCT minister in the Babangida regime, Maj-Gen. Mamman Vatsa (retd).
Members of the Ogoni Nine and Ogoni Four are also beneficiaries.
“Herbert Macaulay and Vatsa are among the two major ones on that list,” a source who attended the meeting told our correspondent.
Macaulay, often called the “father of Nigerian nationalism,” was twice convicted by the colonial authorities in Lagos.
In 1913, while in private practice as a surveyor, he was tried for misappropriating funds from an estate he administered and sentenced to prison; historians have long debated the fairness of that prosecution.
In 1928, after his Lagos Daily News published incendiary claims during the Eleko (Oba of Lagos) agitation, he was convicted of sedition in the so-called “Gunpowder Plot” case and jailed for six months with hard labour.
Vatsa, a poet, former FCT minister and member of the Supreme Military Council, was executed by firing squad on March 5, 1986, after a secret military tribunal convicted him of treason over an alleged coup against then military ruler Ibrahim Babangida, his childhood friend.
The case has remained controversial for decades, with periodic calls for a posthumous pardon.
Out of the 175 beneficiaries, 82 inmates were granted a full presidential pardon, 65 had their sentences reduced, while seven death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.
Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna state explained, “82 of the inmates were granted full pardon, 65 had their sentences reduced, while seven death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.
“The decision underscores the President’s commitment to justice and correctional reform.”
The meeting, chaired by President Tinubu, also ratified key appointments, including Dr. Aminu Yusuf from Niger State as Chairman of the National Population Commission and Tonge Bularafa as Federal Commissioner representing Yobe State in the Commission. Both appointments received unanimous approval.
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