History was made on Thursday as President Bola Tinubu approved presidential pardons for Nigeria’s nationalist icon, Herbert Macaulay, and former FCT Minister, Maj-Gen. Mamman Vatsa (retd), alongside 173 others.
The decision, ratified by the National Council of State, followed a presentation by Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), based on the report of the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy.
Sources at the meeting said the list also included members of the Ogoni Nine and Ogoni Four.
“Herbert Macaulay and Vatsa are among the two major ones on that list,” a source who attended the meeting told our correspondent.
Macaulay, often described as the father of Nigerian nationalism, was twice jailed by the British colonial authorities — once in 1913 for alleged misappropriation and again in 1928 over the “Gunpowder Plot” sedition case.
Maj-Gen. Vatsa, a poet and former member of the Supreme Military Council, was executed on March 5, 1986, after a secret tribunal convicted him of plotting a coup against then-military ruler Ibrahim Babangida, his longtime friend. His execution has remained one of the most controversial moments in Nigeria’s military history.
Out of the 175 beneficiaries, 82 inmates received full presidential pardon, 65 had their sentences reduced, while seven death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.
Briefing journalists after the meeting, Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, said: “82 of the inmates were granted full pardon, 65 had their sentences reduced, while seven death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. The decision underscores the President’s commitment to justice and correctional reform.”
The meeting, chaired by President Tinubu, also approved new appointments — including Dr. Aminu Yusuf from Niger State as Chairman of the National Population Commission, and Tonge Bularafa as Federal Commissioner representing Yobe State.
