IN a historic gesture of national reconciliation and justice reform, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the exercise of the presidential prerogative of mercy for 175 Nigerians, including Nigeria’s foremost nationalist, Herbert Macaulay, and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Major-General Mamman Vatsa (retd).
News Point Nigeria reports that the decision was ratified on Thursday by the National Council of State during its meeting held at the State House, Abuja, and presided over by President Tinubu.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), presented the President’s recommendations to the Council, based on the report of the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy.
According to the Justice Minister, the presidential clemency covers 82 inmates granted full pardons, 65 whose sentences were reduced, and seven whose death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State, who briefed journalists after the meeting, described the action as “an act of compassion and justice consistent with President Tinubu’s commitment to correctional and restorative justice.”
“This is part of ongoing efforts to reform the criminal justice system and decongest correctional centres nationwide. The President believes in fairness, rehabilitation, and second chances,” Governor Sani stated.
Although the full list of beneficiaries is yet to be made public, News Point Nigeria gathered that Herbert Macaulay and Major-General Mamman Vatsa are among the most prominent figures granted posthumous pardons.
Macaulay, revered as the “Father of Nigerian Nationalism,” was twice convicted under the British colonial government, first in 1913, for alleged misappropriation of estate funds, and again in 1928, for sedition over articles published in his newspaper, the Lagos Daily News, during the Eleko (Oba of Lagos) agitation.
Historians have long argued that both convictions were politically motivated attempts by the colonial administration to silence nationalist agitation.
“This pardon symbolically restores the dignity of one of the most consequential figures in Nigeria’s independence movement,” said a senior official who attended the Council meeting.
Similarly, Maj-Gen. Mamman Vatsa (retd), a respected soldier, poet, and member of the Supreme Military Council under General Ibrahim Babangida, was executed on March 5, 1986, after a secret military tribunal convicted him of treason for an alleged coup plot.
Vatsa’s trial and execution despite appeals from prominent Nigerians have remained one of the most controversial chapters in Nigeria’s military history. For decades, calls for his posthumous pardon have persisted among rights activists, writers, and historians.
Sources also confirmed that members of the Ogoni Nine and Ogoni Four executed during the regime of General Sani Abacha in 1995 over the environmental justice struggle led by Ken Saro-Wiwa were included in the latest presidential clemency.
“It’s not just about forgiveness; it’s about rewriting parts of our history that were left unjust,” a senior presidency aide said.
Aside from the pardon exercise, the Council of State also ratified two key federal appointments:
Dr. Aminu Yusuf, from Niger State, as Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC); and
Tonge Bularafa, from Yobe State, as Federal Commissioner representing Yobe State in the Commission.
Both nominations were unanimously approved.