President Bola Tinubu has granted a presidential pardon to 175 individuals, including Nigerian nationalist icon Herbert Macaulay and former Federal Capital Territory Minister Major-General Mamman Vatsa (retired).
The pardon was announced after the National Council of State meeting on Thursday in Abuja.
While Vatsa was sentenced to death over a treason charge in 1986, Macaulay 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.
Vatsa, a poet, was among the 17 people who received presidential pardons following the endorsement of the National Council of State on Thursday in Abuja.
President Tinubu also granted a posthumous pardon to Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC)..
Other notable beneficiaries include the Ogoni Nine, who were executed environmental activists, and Farouk Lawan, a former member of the House of Representatives.
Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy recommended the pardons, citing factors such as old age, ill health, youth, long-term imprisonment with good conduct, and demonstrable remorse or vocational rehabilitation.
In addition to the pardon, President Tinubu awarded national honours to the Ogoni Four, including Chief Albert Badey, Chief Edward Kobani, Chief Samuel Orage, and Theophilus Orage.
The President’s action is seen as a gesture of goodwill and a demonstration of his commitment to promoting justice, rehabilitation, and human rights in Nigeria.
The committee’s report noted that a total of 175 inmates were interviewed, and 62 applications were received on behalf of 119 inmates considered by the committee.
The report also highlighted that 82 inmates were recommended for clemency, with two individuals receiving pardons, 65 inmates having their terms of imprisonment reduced, and seven inmates on death row having their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
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.
President Tinubu acted on the recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy(PACPM).
The committee has 12 members, with the Attorney General and Justice Minister, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, as chairman.
The other members are Chief Akinlolu Olujinmi, CON; Professor Alkasum Abba; Professor (Mrs.) Nike Ijaiya; Justice Augustine B. Utsaha; and the Secretary, Dr Onwusoro Maduka, a former Permanent Secretary.
The institutional representatives on the Committee are: the Permanent Secretary, Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs; representatives of the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Correctional Service, National Human Rights Commission, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), and Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
The committee’s final report was presented to the Council of State on Thursday in Abuja, as required by the constitution.
