Tinubu Pardons Herbert Macaulay, Mamman Vatsa, 173 Others

By Micheal Chukwuebuka

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has granted presidential pardon to 175 persons across various categories, including historic national figures such as Nigerian nationalist Herbert Macaulay and former Federal Capital Territory Minister Maj.-Gen. Mamman Vatsa.

The decision, approved on Thursday during the Council of State meeting in Abuja, followed Tinubu’s recommendation based on the report of the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy. Among those pardoned were members of the Ogoni Nine and Ogoni Four, executed during the military regime of the 1990s.

Herbert Macaulay, who died in 1946, was one of Nigeria’s foremost nationalists and the founder of the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), the country’s first political party. Widely regarded as the “Father of Nigerian Nationalism,” Macaulay played a pivotal role in the struggle against colonial rule and the push for self-governance.

Maj.-Gen. Mamman Vatsa, a poet and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory under General Ibrahim Babangida, was executed in 1986 after being accused of involvement in an attempted coup.

The presidential clemency, according to government sources, aims to promote national reconciliation and uphold the principles of restorative justice.