Dino Melaye Slams Tinubu Over Presidential Pardons, Alleges 70 Were Drug Convicts

Former Senator Dino Melaye has criticized President Bola Tinubu over his recent presidential clemency, claiming that a large number of those pardoned were convicted for drug-related crimes.

In a post on X on Sunday, Melaye alleged that about 70 of the 175 individuals granted clemency were drug offenders, calling the move “unprecedented in history.” He argued that no other government had ever issued such a wide-scale pardon to convicted drug criminals.

“Pardon granted to 70 drug lords by President Tinubu is unprecedented in history. Checks show it has never happened anywhere in the world. My advice to the President is to scrap the NDLEA, as his action has rendered the agency’s efforts meaningless since its inception,” Melaye wrote.

Among the 175 individuals granted clemency were notable figures such as the late environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, nationalist Herbert Macaulay, Major General Mamman Vatsa, and Maryam Sanda, who had been sentenced to death for murdering her husband.