President Bola Tinubu on Thursday approved the release, pardon, or commutation of sentences for 175 inmates across the country.
The list included a long-awaited posthumous pardon for nationalist Herbert Macaulay, poet-soldier Maj-Gen Mamman Vatsa, and former lawmaker Farouk Lawan.
The decision, endorsed by the National Council of State at its meeting in Abuja, marks a significant moment in the administration’s drive to reform Nigeria’s criminal justice system, decongest correctional facilities, and promote what the President described as “restorative and redemptive justice.”
The Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, who briefed State House correspondents after the meeting, said the clemency reflected Tinubu’s conviction that mercy, when combined with justice, reinforces the moral authority of the State.
“The President believes that the Nigerian justice system must not only punish but also heal. Those who have shown genuine remorse and transformation deserve a second chance,” Sani said.
The exercise followed recommendations from the Presidential Advisory Committee on Prerogative of Mercy (PACPM), chaired by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
Out of the 175 beneficiaries, 82 inmates received full pardons, 65 had their sentences reduced, and seven inmates on death row had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
The prerogative of mercy, empowered under Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), allows the President to grant pardons, reprieves, or commutations of sentences upon the advice of the Council of State.
*Posthumous pardons for icons, activists
Among those pardoned posthumously were Herbert Macaulay, revered nationalist and co-founder of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), and Major-General Mamman Vatsa, a distinguished officer and poet executed under General Ibrahim Babangida’s regime in 1986 on allegations of treason.
Macaulay’s pardon symbolically expunges a 1913 colonial conviction that had barred him from public office, restoring the reputation of a man whose activism helped shape Nigeria’s struggle for independence.
Similarly, Vatsa, known for his literary works and philanthropic acts, was widely seen as a victim of the political circumstances surrounding the 1985 coup plot allegations.
Tinubu also granted clemency to Farouk Lawan, a former member of the House of Representatives convicted in 2021 for receiving bribes during the fuel subsidy probe, as well as to Mrs Anastasia Daniel Nwaobia, Barrister Hussaini Umar, and Ayinla Saadu Alanamu, all of whom were deemed reformed and remorseful.
Others pardoned include Nweke Francis Chibueze, serving a life term for drug-related offences, and Dr Nwogu Peters, who had served 12 of his 17-year sentence for fraud.
*Ogoni nine, Farouk Lawan, others also get presidential pardon
In one of the most emotionally charged aspects of the clemency exercise, the President granted posthumous pardons to the Ogoni nine, including environmental rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, Barinem Kiobel, Baribor Bera, and six others, nearly 30 years after their execution by the Abacha regime.
The President also awarded National Honours to the Ogoni Four- Chief Albert Badey, Chief Edward Kobani, Chief Samuel Orage, and Theophilus Orage, for their courage and commitment to environmental justice in the Niger Delta.
*How the Committee Arrived at Its Recommendations
The PACPM, inaugurated by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, in January 2025, reviewed a total of 294 applications from correctional facilities across the country.
It considered cases based on old age (60 years and above), ill health likely to terminate in death, young persons (16 years and below), and long-term convicts with exemplary behaviour or vocational training.
The Committee also included representatives from the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Correctional Service, National Human Rights Commission, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), and Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), ensuring broad moral and institutional input.
*Council okays Police Trust Fund reform
In another decision, the Council approved far-reaching reforms for the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF).
Minister of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Gaidam, said the Council backed the removal of the Fund’s six-year expiration clause and approved a proposal to increase its statutory allocation from 0.5 per cent to 2 per cent of the Federation Account.
The amendment, he said, would transform the Fund into a permanent agency to support training, logistics, welfare, and modernisation of policing, including investments in surveillance technology, communications, and crime-fighting tools.
“The era of underfunded policing must end if Nigeria is to secure its people,” Gaidam said.
Thursday’s meeting of the National Council of State, chaired by President Tinubu, was attended physically and virtually by key figures, including former Heads of State, Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar, former Chief Justices of Nigeria, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, and several state governors.
The gathering also featured discussions on the State of the economy, electoral reforms, and public safety, though details were not made public.
