By Philomina Brando
The Council of State on Thursday approved the exercise of presidential prerogative of mercy for 175 persons across various categories, following President Bola Tinubu’s recommendations presented by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
The decision, based on the report of the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, was reached at the Council’s meeting held at the State House, Abuja.
Although the full list of beneficiaries has yet to be published, findings revealed that posthumous pardons were granted to nationalist leader Herbert Macaulay, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory under the Babangida regime Maj.-Gen. Mamman Vatsa (retd.), as well as members of the Ogoni Nine and Ogoni Four.
A source at the meeting confirmed that “Macaulay and Vatsa are among the two major ones on that list.”
Macaulay, regarded as the father of Nigerian nationalism, was twice convicted by the colonial authorities first in 1913 for alleged misappropriation of estate funds, and again in 1928 for sedition following his newspaper’s coverage of the Eleko of Lagos agitation.
Maj.-Gen. Vatsa, a poet and senior military officer, was executed by firing squad on March 5, 1986, after a secret tribunal found him guilty of plotting a coup against then military ruler Gen. Ibrahim Babangida a case that has remained controversial for decades.
Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State said the pardons reflect President Tinubu’s commitment to justice and correctional reform.
According to him, “82 of the inmates were granted full pardon, 65 had their sentences reduced, while seven death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.”
The Council meeting, chaired by President Tinubu, also ratified key appointments, including Dr. Aminu Yusuf (Niger State) as Chairman of the National Population Commission and Tonge Bularafa as Federal Commissioner representing Yobe State in the Commission.