· “Insensitive to free murderers, drug pushers”
· AGF to blame, says activist
By Laraba MUREY
Shock and outrage have continued to trail the presidential pardon and clemency granted to most of the 175 convicts and former convicts who received President Bola Tinubu’s mercy on Thursday, October 9, 2025
On Saturday, presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, released the full list of those who benefitted from the pardon and clemency from President Tinubu on the recommendation of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, chaired by the Attorney-General and Justice Minister, Prince Lateef Fagbemi.
In all, two inmates received pardon, 15 former convicts, 11 of whom have died, also. The committee further recommended clemency for 82 inmates and commutation of sentences for 65 inmates. Seven inmates on death row also benefited from the presidential reprieve.
According to Onanuga, those who benefitted include “illegal miners, white-collar convicts, remorseful drug offenders, foreigners, Major General Mamman Vatsa, Major Akubo, Professor Magaji Garba, capital offenders such as Maryam Sanda, Ken Saro Wiwa, and the other Ogoni Eight” amongst other.
Maryam Sanda, a beneficiary of the presidential gesture was sentenced to death in 2020 for killing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, during a domestic dispute.
Ms Sanda, now 37, had spent six years and eight months at the Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre before her release.
Also, a 44-year-old notorious kingpin, Kelvin Prosper Oniarah, responsible for high profile kidnappings including Mike Ozekhome, SAN, on August 24, 2013, a judge of the Edo State Judiciary, a top female official of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Dr Chudi Nwike, a former Deputy Governor of Anambra State, who was killed by Kelvin while in captivity and several members of the NYSC and security agents.
At the time of his arrest in Port Harcourt in 2013 at about 3am, at an undisclosed hotel, he was the most wanted kidnapper/armed robbery kingpin in Delta State, hailing from Kokori in Ethiope-East Local Government Area.
Kelvin was serving a 20-year jail term, which many at that time said it was a slap on the wrist and had spent 12 of those before President Tinubu allowed him to walk home free.
Ameh Ejekwonyilo, a senior judicial correspondent with online newspaper, Premium Times, accused the Presidency of “deodorising cold murderers with presidential perfume.”
Taking to his social media account, he wrote; “Whatever may have informed the presidential pardons to these cold murderers and felons is in utter bad taste! It amounts to stomping on the graves of the victims of these heinous crimes, while further tormenting the families of the victims.
“As a court reporter, for instance, I witnessed the horrors of witnesses who recounted how these despicable killings and kidnappings of victims took place, amid threats from the criminals and their goons.
“While it’s within the President’s powers to grant pardons, traumatised victims’ families deserve some closure. Certainly, this recent action is an affront!
“One thing is clear: no amount of deodorant by anyone can quench the stench oozing from these rotten criminals. Their abode is hell!
“I know too well the ache of families that have been devastated by the atrocities, because I have lived through it in one of my personal tragedies.”
Also, Mohammed Bilal Omeiza Abubakar wondered “why should resources be committed to secure justice that most often denied in Nigeria, suddenly a president in one pronouncement cancelled the conviction,” warning that “with what has happened, people may choose self-help rather than going to court.”
Further, the president spokesman in the South East, Dr. Josef Onoh, called on the president to reconsider and reverse the recent pardons granted to some convicts, including Maryam Sanda and certain drug offenders.
Onoh described the decision as “morally wrong and a rape of justice,” arguing that it could damage the administration’s international image and undermine the country’s justice system.
According to him, granting pardon to offenders such as Nweke Francis Chibueze, serving a life sentence for cocaine trafficking, and Isaac Justina, convicted for cannabis possession, represents “a profound ethical and institutional rupture that demands immediate rectification.”
“While constitutionally permissible, this act contravenes the moral imperatives of retributive justice and restorative equity. It inflicts psychological trauma on victims’ families, perpetuates systemic injustice, and erodes the deterrence mechanisms essential for societal stability,” Onoh stated.
An activist, Michael Ogar, argued that the president isn’t to blame rather the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, and members of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy.
“The president has no blame in this. The AGF (Fagbemi) and members of his committee should be held accountable for this travesty and abuse of judicial privilege to have put forward these convicts including known murderers, drug peddlers and their likes before the president.
“It will not be shocking to learn of backdoor deals in the pardon and clemency granted to some of these individuals that should fully serve their time and perhaps die there. It is beyond regret, this is an abomination,” Ogar stated.
