Tinubu pardons Macaulay, Vatsa, Lawan, grants clemency to 175 inmates
President Bola Tinubu, on Thursday, pardoned Mamman Vatsa, who was sentenced to death over a treason charge in 1986, under the regime of former President Ibrahim Babangida
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, in a statement, said Vatsa has received a posthumous pardon from President Bola Tinubu.
Vatsa, a poet, was among the 17 people who received presidential pardons following the endorsement of the National Council of State, which met in Abuja on Thursday.
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President Tinubu also granted a posthumous pardon to Herbert Macaulay, a Nigerian nationalist and co-founder, along with Nnamdi Azikiwe, of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC).
Macaulay was the party’s first President, which played a pivotal role in Nigeria’s struggle for independence.
He was however, believed to be unjustly convicted in 1913, by the British colonialists and banned from public office.
Macaulay died in 1946, but the stigma of being an ex-convict was not exorcised from his records until now.
President Tinubu also pardoned four former convicts, including former House of Representatives member, Farouk Lawan, Anastasia Nwaobia, Hussaini Umar and Ayinla Alanamu.
The statement said they were pardoned to enable them to be integrated into society, having demonstrated sufficient remorse.
Nweke Chibueze, serving a life sentence for cocaine, was pardoned, along with Nwogu Peters, who had served 12 out of his 17-year sentence for fraud.
The President also extended the clemency to the Ogoni Nine, Ken Saro Wiwa, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel and John Kpuine were formally pardoned on Thursday, and whose pardon was ratified by the National Council of State.
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At the same time, the President awarded national honours to the Ogoni Four- Albert Badey, Edward Kobani, Samuel Orage, and Theophilus Orage.
In exercising his constitutional prerogative 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.
