Tinubu grants presidential pardon to Herbert Macaulay, Mamman Vatsa, 173 others
The Council of State has approved the Presidential prerogative of mercy for 175 individuals, including prominent historical figures Herbert Macaulay and Maj-Gen. Mamman Vatsa (retd), as well as members of the Ogoni Nine and Ogoni Four. The decision was made during a meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja, on Thursday.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), presented President Tinubu’s recommendations, based on the report of the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy of the 175 beneficiaries.
82 received full presidential pardons, 65 had their sentences reduced, and seven death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.
Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani, briefing journalists after the meeting, stated, “The decision underscores the President’s commitment to justice and correctional reform.”
Herbert Macaulay, widely regarded as the “father of Nigerian nationalism,” was convicted twice by colonial authorities in Lagos. In 1913, he was jailed for alleged misappropriation of estate funds, a case historians have long debated for its fairness.
In 1928, he was convicted of sedition in the “Gunpowder Plot” case following publications in his Lagos Daily News during the Eleko agitation, resulting in a six-month sentence with hard labor.
Maj-Gen. Mamman Vatsa, a poet and former Federal Capital Territory Minister under the Babangida regime, was executed in 1986 after a secret military tribunal convicted him of treason in an alleged coup plot against then-military ruler Ibrahim Babangida.
The controversial case has prompted decades-long calls for a posthumous pardon.
While the full list of beneficiaries is yet to be released, a source at the meeting confirmed Macaulay and Vatsa as notable recipients.
The Council also ratified the appointments of Dr. Aminu Yusuf as Chairman of the National Population Commission and Tonge Bularafa as Federal Commissioner representing Yobe State, both receiving unanimous approval.
