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| Tinubu |
President Bola Tinubu has granted presidential pardons to 175 individuals, including notable historical figures, following approval by the Council of State on Thursday, October 9, 2025.
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), presented President Tinubu’s mercy recommendations based on the Advisory Committee’s report during the Council of State meeting at the State House, Abuja.
Among those pardoned, according to a report of the Punch Newspapers are Nigeria’s founding father Herbert Macaulay, often regarded as the “father of Nigerian nationalism,” and Maj-Gen. Mamman Vatsa (retd), former Federal Capital Territory Minister under the Babangida regime.
Additionally, members of the Ogoni Nine and Ogoni Four benefitted from the pardon.
A source at the meeting confirmed to Punch that Macaulay and Vatsa as key beneficiaries. Herbert Macaulay was notably twice convicted by colonial authorities in Lagos for his nationalist activities.
Members of the Ogoni Nine and Ogoni Four are also beneficiaries.
“Herbert Macaulay and Vatsa are among the two major ones on that list,” a source who attended the meeting told our Punch.
Macaulay, often called the “father of Nigerian nationalism,” was twice convicted by the colonial authorities in Lagos.
In 1913, while in private practice as a surveyor, the Punch report confirms, he was tried for misappropriating funds from an estate he administered and sentenced to prison; historians have long debated the fairness of that prosecution.
In 1928, after his Lagos Daily News published incendiary claims during the Eleko (Oba of Lagos) agitation, he was convicted of sedition in the so-called “Gunpowder Plot” case and jailed for six months with hard labour.
Vatsa, a poet, former FCT minister and member of the Supreme Military Council, the Punch report also noted, was executed by firing squad on March 5, 1986, after a secret military tribunal convicted him of treason over an alleged coup against then military ruler Ibrahim Babangida, his childhood friend.
The case has remained controversial for decades, with periodic calls for a posthumous pardon.
Out of the 175 beneficiaries, 82 inmates were granted a full presidential pardon, 65 had their sentences reduced, while seven death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment, according to the report.
Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna state explained, “82 of the inmates were granted full pardon, 65 had their sentences reduced, while seven death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.
“The decision underscores the President’s commitment to justice and correctional reform.”
The meeting, was chaired by President Tinubu, and also ratified key appointments, including Dr. Aminu Yusuf from Niger State as Chairman of the National Population Commission and Tonge Bularafa as Federal Commissioner representing Yobe State in the Commission.
Both appointments received unanimous approval, the Punch report stated.
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