Tinubu grants presidential pardon to Mamman Vatsa, Farouk Lawan, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and 172 others

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has granted presidential pardon and clemency to 175 persons. 

The pardon followed the endorsement of recommendations from the National Council of State, which met on Thursday, October 9, in Abuja. 
 

According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the President granted posthumous pardons to late Major General Mamman Jiya Vatsa and nationalist, Herbert Macaulay. He also pardoned former lawmaker Farouk Lawan and three others — Mrs. Anastasia Daniel Nwaobia, Barrister Hussaini Umar, and Ayinla Saadu Alanamu — after they were found to have demonstrated remorse and readiness to reintegrate into society. 
 

Vatsa, a poet and former military officer, was executed in 1986 after being convicted of treason. He received the posthumous pardon nearly four decades after his de@th. 

Herbert Macaulay, one of Nigeria’s foremost nationalists and co-founder of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), who was convicted by colonial authorities in 1913, was also granted a pardon. 
 

The statement also confirmed that President Tinubu granted clemency to 82 inmates, reduced the prison terms of 65 others, and commuted the de@th sentences of seven inmates to life imprisonment. 
 

In addition, the President pardoned the nine executed Ogoni activists — Ken Saro-Wiwa, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine — while bestowing posthumous national honours on four others: Chief Albert Badey, Chief Edward Kobani, Chief Samuel Orage, and Theophilus Orage. 
 

The exercise was based on the recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy (PACPM), chaired by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN). 

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, inaugurated the PACPM in January 2025 to promote justice, rehabilitation, and human rights in the country. 
 

The committee reviewed 294 cases, recommending clemency for 82 inmates, pardon for 2, reduction of prison terms for 65, commutation of 7 de@th sentences to life imprisonment, and posthumous pardons for 15 ex-convicts, including the Ogoni Nine. 
 

The committee’s criteria included age (60 years and above), terminal illness, youth (16 years and below), long-term good conduct in prison, and demonstrated remorse, among others.

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