The Council of State has approved a presidential pardon for 175 persons following a presentation by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), during its meeting on Thursday at the State House, Abuja.
The decision was based on President Bola Tinubu’s recommendations derived from the report of the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy.
According to details obtained by Punch, the list of beneficiaries includes notable historical figures such as Herbert Macaulay — widely regarded as the father of Nigerian nationalism — and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Maj.-Gen. Mamman Vatsa (retd.), who was executed in 1986 under the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida.
Members of the Ogoni Nine and Ogoni Four were also named among those granted the presidential pardon.
A source at the meeting disclosed that “Herbert Macaulay and Vatsa are among the two major ones on that list.”
Macaulay, a key figure in Nigeria’s independence struggle, was twice convicted by colonial authorities. In 1913, he was imprisoned for alleged misappropriation of estate funds, and in 1928, he received a six-month hard labour sentence after his newspaper, Lagos Daily News, published a report linked to the Eleko agitation, later known as the “Gunpowder Plot.”
Maj.-Gen. Vatsa, who served as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and a member of the Supreme Military Council, was executed by firing squad on March 5, 1986, over allegations of plotting a coup against then military ruler, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida — his longtime friend. His trial and execution have remained subjects of controversy, with repeated calls for a posthumous pardon.