The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), gave a soft landing to his boss, President Bola Tinubu last week Thursday, when he stated that the 175 names on the list of those granted presidential pardon is still open for review.
The process, according to the number one law officer of the federation, remains at the final administrative stage, which includes a standard review to ensure that all names and recommendations fully comply with established legal and procedural requirements before any instrument of release is issued.
As part of activities marking the 65th anniversary of the nation’s independence, Tinubu, in exercising his presidential power, granted pardon and clemency to 175 individuals after a list was approved by the Council of State. The Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, chaired by the same Fagbemi, had compiled the names before it was tabled before the Council of State for approval.
But Fagbemi, following intense backlash from Nigerians over some names on the list, has now come out to say that relevant government agencies would take another look at the list for remedial purposes, as none of those granted pardon have been released. Since the list was made public, many Nigerians were taken aback by the names on the list due the gravity of the offences they committed for which they have now been granted state pardon.
According to StatiSense, of the 175 names, 29.2 per cent were convicted for drug-related offences, 24 per cent for unlawful mining, 13.5 per cent for homicide, 12.3 per cent for fraud and corruption, 5.8 per cent for hijacking, and others for firearms, robbery, kidnapping, and human trafficking. These are not petty crime offenders. We are talking about individuals convicted of some of the most serious crimes in the land, including murder and kidnapping. These are offences that have devastated countless families and communities.
Out of the list, 16 persons were granted presidential pardon. They are Nweke Francis Chibueze, 44, serving a life sentence at Kirikiri for cocaine trafficking; Dr. Nwogu Peters, 67, serving a 17-year jail term for fraud; Mrs. Anastasia Daniel Nwaoba, 63, who served a sentence for fraud; Barr. Hussaini Alhaji Umar, 58, sentenced in 2023 to pay a fine of N150m in an ICPC case; Ayinla Saadu Alanamu, 63, sentenced to seven years for bribery in 2019 and has served his sentence; a former House of Representatives member, Farouk Lawan, 62, sentenced to five years in 2021 for Corrupt Practices, and who has served his sentence.
Those granted posthumous pardon were Sir Herbert Macaulay, who was banned from public office for misappropriation of funds and sentenced in 1913 by the British colonialists; Major-General Mamman Jiya Vatsa, sentenced in 1986 for treason; the Ogoni Nine, sentenced for murder: Ken Saro Wiwa, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawa, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel and John Kpuine.
Presidential clemency was granted to 82 individuals, most of whom were said to have shown “either remorse or learned vocational skills in jail.”
The pardon for Ms. Maryam Sanda, who killed her husband five years ago, and was sentenced to death by the court, also raised serious objection from many Nigerians. Although the father of her late husband has insisted that he wrote series of letters to government officials to grant her pardon so that she could take care of her two children, other members of the family have denounced the government’s decision to grant her pardon, describing the exercise as the worst level of injustice that the family has to deal with.
A competent court had sentenced her to death for killing her husband, Bilyaminu. The court’s judgment was upheld by the Court of Appeal on December 4, 2020, and later affirmed by the Supreme Court on October 27, 2023. “Satisfied that justice had finally been served, the judgment provided some closure of sorts in the circumstance, if ever there could be one. Although the perpetrator had shown no remorse, even for a fleeting moment throughout the saga, we took solace in the judgments and moved on, having painfully come to terms with the fate that life had thrust upon one of our own. This latest turn of events, coming just a few years after the dastardly crime that cruelly cut short Bilyaminu’s life, has, however, expectedly reopened our healing wounds,” the family stated in a press release.
The family expressed deep disappointment that, despite the gravity of the crime and the painstaking judicial process, the Federal Government chose to extend clemency to Sanda, allegedly following “appeals from her family.”
“We interpret this decision as primarily driven by the sole motivation for appeasing Maryam’s family members by way of extending mercy to a certified convicted murderer.’’
It is not only the Bilyaminu family that is angry at the presidential pardon extended to convicted criminals and drug peddlers. In fact, many of the security agencies, including the NDLEA, ICPC, and the EFCC are not happy at the turn of events, and are calling for a review.
Coming at a time when Nigeria is fighting to rebuild global credibility, attract foreign investment, and combat the stereotype of being soft on corruption and crime, the pardon sends a different message, suggesting that justice in Nigeria is negotiable, consequences are selective, and the rule of law can be suspended for the well-connected. It deepens the perception that Nigeria operates on a two-track system: one for the powerful, and another for the powerless. How many low-level criminals are on the list?
For years, international observers have raised concerns about our weak institutions and inconsistent law enforcement. This mass pardon has only reinforced those doubts. When foreign governments and investors see a country where murderers, drug traffickers, corrupt politicians and kidnappers can be granted clemency so easily, they question whether Nigeria is truly serious about security, accountability, and reform.
Nigeria urgently needs a credible justice system, specifically one that punishes wrongdoing fairly and consistently. The reason people avoid breaking the law in developed countries is that they know that the justice system does not care about their status or who they know. Instead of freeing offenders, the government should have used this moment to demonstrate seriousness about reform, security and accountability through better options such as reviewing cases of wrongful conviction, pardoning low-risk offenders who have already served long sentences, prioritising rehabilitation, focusing on restorative justice, and the likes. But freeing murderers, corrupt officials, and kidnappers was neither wise nor defensible.
The exercise of presidential pardon in Nigeria has long oscillated between genuine acts of national reconciliation and outright political indulgence. The tradition began in 1982, when President Shehu Shagari granted amnesty to Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, leader of the defunct Republic of Biafra, who had been in exile in Côte d’Ivoire since the end of the Civil War in 1970.
Shagari’s gesture, presented as part of his “national reconciliation policy”, was celebrated as a landmark in post-war healing. Ojukwu’s dramatic return symbolised the reintegration of the Southeast into the Nigerian mainstream.
Under General Ibrahim Babangida, the Presidential Pardon became a subtle political tool to stabilise the regime. Several political detainees and military officers convicted of coup attempts were freed, or had their sentences commuted. Babangida’s amnesty measures were largely elite-driven, intended to consolidate loyalty and sustain the transition programmes of his era.
In contrast, General Sani Abacha’s rule was marked by harsh repression. His government rarely exercised clemency and ignored numerous appeals to release key political prisoners such as Chief M.K.O. Abiola and Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, who were jailed over the alleged 1995 coup plot.
When Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo utilised the power of clemency to both redress past injustices, and reward political allies. He pardoned General Oladipo Diya and others convicted of coup plotting under Abacha’s regime, and posthumously restored the honour of Maj.-Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, who had died in Abacha’s prison.
While these acts were couched in the language of reconciliation, critics accused Obasanjo of politicising the process by extending clemency primarily to allies who helped consolidate his administration.
In 2009, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua redefined presidential clemency through the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme. While not a conventional pardon, it offered ex-militants a blanket amnesty, rehabilitation, and vocational training in exchange for disarmament.
The programme significantly reduced attacks on oil infrastructure, restored production, and is widely regarded as one of Nigeria’s most effective peacebuilding initiatives.
In 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan provoked outrage when he pardoned his former boss and ex-Bayelsa governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who had been convicted and jailed for corruption. Jonathan defended the decision as an act of forgiveness, but civil society groups and international partners criticised it as a blow to the anti-corruption campaign. The president also extended clemency to several military and civilian convicts from previous regimes.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari, known for his austere posture, also found himself in controversy over his pardons. In 2022, the Council of State approved clemency for former Governors Joshua Dariye (Plateau state) and Jolly Nyame (Taraba state), both of whom were jailed for corruption.
The government justified the move on health and humanitarian grounds, but anti-corruption advocates condemned it as selective justice. Earlier, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Buhari ordered the release of about 2,600 inmates nationwide to decongest prisons.
As it is in Nigeria, so it was in many advanced countries. In January this year, for instance, one of President Joe Biden’s last decisions in the White House was to issue blanket (and anticipatory) pardons to his brother, James Biden, James’s wife, Sara Jones Biden; his younger sister, Valerie Biden Owens; Valerie’s husband, John T. Owens; and his younger brother, Francis W. Biden. A month earlier, he had also issued “a full and unconditional” pardon to his son, Hunter Biden. The decisions were met with public opprobrium by most Americans.
Perhaps no pardon was as controversial as the one granted in December, 2020 by President Donald Trump (in his first term), to four American security guards working with a private company, who were convicted for the cold-blooded murder of 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007. “Few gestures could set back the cause of accountability for civilians in war as effectively as a pardon offered by a Head of State for political reasons,” the Centre for Civilians in Conflict Executive Director, Federico Borello said, following the decision that attracted international condemnation. “The pardons are a disservice to all who operate within the bounds of the law in war, and an insult to the survivors and family members of those murdered.”
The news from Fagbemi that the names on the list would be reviewed is another testament critical to those working with Tinubu to up their game. This is another national embarrassment that could have been avoided if the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), and the Chief of Staff to the President have done their due diligence. Such a list should have been scrutinised with a fine-tooth comb and names that could embarrass the government expunged.
Again, pardon and clemency should not be based on political consideration, nor be for elites alone in the society. Those who the state spent millions of naira to put behind bars while prosecuting them either for drug trafficking, murder, and sundry crimes should also serve their sentence and punishment in peace. That is how to build a just and egalitarian society.
See you next week.
