BREAKING: Presidential Tinubu Grants Presidential Pardon To Mamman Vatsa, Saro-Wiwa, Herbert Macaulay, 13 Others
The Council of State on Thursday approved the exercise of the presidential prerogative of mercy for 175 persons across various categories, following a presentation by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
The Genius Media Nigeria reports that the meeting, held at the State House in Abuja, considered President Bola Tinubu’s recommendations based on the report of the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy.
According to details obtained by Punch, the list includes historic figures such as Herbert Macaulay, widely regarded as the father of Nigerian nationalism, and former Federal Capital Territory minister, Maj.-Gen. Mamman Vatsa (retd.), executed in 1986 during the Babangida regime.
Members of the Ogoni Nine and Ogoni Four were also listed among the beneficiaries.
A source at the meeting disclosed, “Herbert Macaulay and Vatsa are among the two major ones on that list.”
Macaulay, who played a pivotal role in Nigeria’s independence struggle, was twice convicted by colonial authorities. In 1913, he was jailed for alleged misappropriation of estate funds. In 1928, he was sentenced to six months’ hard labour after his newspaper, Lagos Daily News, published claims linked to the Eleko agitation, which became known as the “Gunpowder Plot.”
Vatsa, on the other hand, served as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and was a member of the Supreme Military Council before being executed by firing squad on March 5, 1986, over allegations of plotting a coup against then military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida, his childhood friend. The trial and conviction have remained controversial, with recurring calls for a posthumous pardon.
