President Tinubu Reveals Motives for Pardons Granted to Saro-Wiwa, Vatsa, Macaulay, and More

Nigeria’s leadership has outlined the thinking behind President Bola Tinubu’s choice to offer forgiveness and leniency to 175 citizens and outsiders, among them the late eco-campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa, ex-army chief Major General Mamman Vatsa, and fellow members of the “Ogoni Nine” group. This step forms part of a drive to foster equity, uprightness, and togetherness across the land.

Authorities also disclosed that the president has set right a long-standing wrong inflicted by British rulers on Sir Herbert Macaulay, a leading freedom fighter, who faced a ban from official roles in 1913 following a guilty verdict on money-handling charges.

Tinubu approved relief for Macaulay alongside 174 additional individuals. Such a broad application of the leader’s forgiving powers stands out, especially given its reach into notable past episodes.

The process drew from advice provided by the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, headed by the nation’s top legal officer and justice minister, Prince Lateef Fagbemi.

Tinubu’s kindness reached those who had expressed regret, displayed proper behaviour, picked up practical abilities, or displayed clear signs of change while behind bars. Some gained from advanced years, sickness, or past unfair treatment.

Among the recipients were lawbreakers involved in unlicensed digging, office fraudsters, sorry substance peddlers, visitors from abroad, Major General Mamman Vatsa, Major Akubo, Professor Magaji Garba, death-sentence holders like Maryam Sanda, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and the remaining eight Ogoni campaigners. These 175 jailbirds and ex-jailbirds received the president’s grace on Thursday.

The president extended forgiveness to the bulk of them after reviews showed sorrow and decent actions. He eased terms for certain ones owing to age, fresh trade learnings, or studies at the National Open University of Nigeria. Tinubu further mended the old colonial slight against Sir Herbert Macaulay, a prime independence pioneer.

Key figures among those forgiven after death included Major General Mamman Vatsa, put to death in 1986 over suspected takeover schemes, and Ken Saro-Wiwa with his eight Ogoni allies, hanged in 1995 during the Abacha era. Their after-death relief, officials noted, aimed to mend deep scars and build communal harmony.

In all, 175 jailbirds and past jailbirds felt the president’s compassion. This covered two current prisoners and 15 released ones (11 now passed on) who got total clearance, 82 prisoners who received easing, 65 whose punishments shortened, and seven prisoners whose end punishments dropped to lifelong terms.

Standout living receivers include Farouk Lawan, a one-time assembly member found guilty of graft; Professor Magaji Garba, ex-head of the Federal University in Gusau; and Maryam Sanda, handed a death term in 2014 for slaying her spouse.

Sanda’s relief stemmed from pleas highlighting her regret, fine demeanour, and duty to raise her two youngsters.

Further receivers of clearance or lighter terms encompassed convicted substance movers, unlicensed diggers, and those guilty of desk-based wrongs, many of whom proved steady behaviour or joined recovery and learning efforts in lockup.

The panel’s findings, shared at Thursday’s Council of State session led by Tinubu, further suggested swapping end terms for lifelong ones for select death-row holders, citing their regret and lengthy stays in custody.

The action aligns with Clause 175 of the 1999 Constitution (as altered), which allows the president to bestow clearances and stays after Council of State input.

Leaders stressed that the call weighed heavy but arose from thorough checks and panel suggestions.

Earlier accounts suggested the step tied into the Tinubu team’s wider bid to lighten jail overcrowding nationwide and advance kind-hearted legal shifts.

The complete receiver roll, put out by leaders, lists prisoners guilty of substance moving, unlicensed digging, deceit, wrongful killing, and further breaches. Senator Ikra Aliyu Bilbis has pledged to guide the recovery and uplifting of every cleared unlicensed digger.