President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved presidential pardons for Nigeria’s founding father Herbert Macaulay and 174 other individuals across various categories, exercising his prerogative of mercy.
The announcement followed a presentation made by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), during the Council of State meeting held on Thursday at the State House, Abuja.
Fagbemi conveyed the President’s recommendations based on the findings of the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, which reviewed applications and historical cases deserving of clemency.
Although the full list of beneficiaries has not yet been released, reports confirm that among those granted posthumous pardons are Herbert Macaulay, regarded as the Father of Nigerian Nationalism, and Major-General Mamman Vatsa (rtd), a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the Babangida regime.
Also included are members of the Ogoni Nine and Ogoni Four, executed activists from the Niger Delta region whose cases have remained subjects of public outcry.
“Herbert Macaulay and Vatsa are among the two major ones on that list,” a source at the meeting disclosed.
Herbert Macaulay, a pioneering nationalist and founder of the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), was convicted twice by the British colonial administration in Lagos.
In 1913, he was imprisoned for allegedly misappropriating funds from an estate he managed as a surveyor — a charge historians have long viewed as politically motivated.
Later, in 1928, after his newspaper, Lagos Daily News, published controversial articles during the Eleko (Oba of Lagos) crisis, he was jailed for six months on sedition charges in what became known as the “Gunpowder Plot” case.
Major-General Mamman Vatsa, a poet, author, and military officer, served as Minister of the FCT before being accused of plotting a coup against his close friend and then military ruler, Ibrahim Babangida.
He was executed by firing squad on March 5, 1986, following a secret tribunal’s verdict — a decision that has remained deeply contentious, with numerous appeals for his posthumous exoneration.
Of the 175 total beneficiaries, the committee’s report detailed the following:
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82 inmates received a full presidential pardon
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65 had their sentences reduced
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7 death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani said:
“Eighty-two of the inmates were granted full pardon, sixty-five had their sentences reduced, and seven death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.
The decision underscores the President’s commitment to justice and correctional reform.”
During the same meeting, chaired by President Tinubu, the Council also approved key national appointments.
Dr. Aminu Yusuf from Niger State was named Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), while Tonge Bularafa was appointed as Federal Commissioner representing Yobe State in the Commission.
Both nominations received unanimous approval from the Council members.
