The Council of State on Thursday approved the presidential exercise of mercy for 175 individuals across different categories. The decision followed a presentation by Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who conveyed President Bola Tinubu’s recommendations based on the report of the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy during the Council’s meeting at the State House, Abuja. While the full list of beneficiaries is yet to be released, sources confirmed that posthumous pardons were granted to one of Nigeria’s founding fathers, Herbert Macaulay, and former FCT minister under the Babangida regime, Maj-Gen. Mamman Vatsa (retd). Members of the Ogoni Nine and Ogoni Four were also included. “Herbert Macaulay and Vatsa are among the major names on that list,” a source present at the meeting told reporters. Macaulay, known as the “father of Nigerian nationalism,” was twice convicted by colonial authorities in Lagos. In 1913, he was imprisoned for alleged misappropriation of funds from an estate he administered, and in 1928, he was jailed for six months with hard labour following a sedition conviction over publications in his Lagos Daily News during the Eleko (Oba of Lagos) agitation. Historians have long debated the fairness of both prosecutions. Vatsa, a poet, former FCT minister, and member of the Supreme Military Council, was executed on March 5, 1986, after a secret military tribunal convicted him of treason over an alleged coup against then-military ruler Ibrahim Babangida, his childhood friend. His case has remained controversial, with calls for a posthumous pardon resurfacing over the decades. Of the 175 beneficiaries, 82 inmates received full presidential pardons, 65 had their sentences reduced, and seven death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani, briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, 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 ratified key appointments, including Dr. Aminu Yusuf from Niger State as Chairman of the National Population Commission and Tonge Bularafa as Federal Commissioner representing Yobe State, both of which received unanimous approval.
