- Comprising, Herbert Macaulay, Mamman Vatsa, Ogoni Activists
The Nigerian Council of State on Thursday approved the exercise of the presidential prerogative of mercy for 175 persons across various categories, including some of Nigeria’s most historic and controversial figures.
The approval followed a presentation by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who conveyed President Bola Tinubu’s recommendations based on the report of the Advisory Commit- tee on the Prerogative of Mercy during the Council’s meeting at the State House, Abuja.
Although the full list of beneficiaries has not been made public, The PUNCH learnt that among those granted presidential pardon are one of Nigeria’s founding fathers, Herbert Macaulay, and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory under the Babangida regime, Major-General Mamman Vatsa (retd).
Members of the Ogoni Nine and Ogoni Four, executed during the military era for their activism in the Niger Delta, are also reportedly among the beneficiaries. A source who attended the closed-door meeting told The PUNCH that “Herbert Macaulay and Vatsa are among the two major names on that list.”
Macaulay, often hailed as the “Father of Nigerian Nationalism,” was twice jailed by British colonial authorities. In 1913, he was convicted for alleged misappropriation of estate funds while working as a surveyor, a charge many historians consider politically motivated.
In 1928, he was again convicted of sedition over reports published in his Lagos Daily News during the Eleko of Lagos crisis and sentenced to six months in prison with hard labour.
Major-General Vatsa, a poet and close friend of former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida, was executed by firing squad on March 5, 1986, after a secret military tribunal convicted him of treason in connection with an alleged coup plot.
His trial and execution have remained one of the most controversial episodes of Nigeria’s military era, with recurring calls for a posthumous pardon.
Out of the 175 persons approved for mercy, 82 inmates were granted full pardon, 65 had their sentences reduced, while seven death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment, according to the summary presented to the Council.
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State, briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, explained that, “82 of the inmates were granted full pardon, 65 had their sentences reduced, while seven death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.
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