AfriPulse
October 13, (THEWILL) — Criticism has continued to trail President Bola Tinubu’s recent pardon of convicted drug barons and peddlers, implying that it severely diminished Nigeria’s fight against narcotics and her standing in the international community.
The presidency had earlier published a comprehensive list of 175 beneficiaries of the 2025 presidential pardon. The list included late nationalist, Herbert Macaulay, late Major- General Mamman Vatsa and Maryam Sanda, who was sentenced to death for killing her husband in cold blood. At least no fewer than 30 convicted drug offenders were on the list.
Some of the critics described the President’s action as tantamount to an abuse of the presidential power of prerogative of mercy.
According to them, granting presidential pardon to such category of convicts amounted to rewarding criminality, weakening the deterrent value of the law and mocking the sacrifices of security agents battling drug networks.
They further argue that the presidential pardon to convicted drug offenders would give the rest of the world the impression that Nigeria, under the current leadership, had sympathy for drug dealers and that the country is a risk-free jurisdiction for traffickers in narcotics.
Criticism like dissent is a potent, moral power in any democracy, especially in a multi ethnic and diverse country like Nigeria where governments tend to politicise even mundane matter like bread and butter issues. As a check on the often exclusivist tendencies of the government, the opposition and other relevant stakeholders should make inputs into policies, projects and programmes through their criticisms.
However, criticism as a moral force, must also be deployed in a tempered and measured manner in certain circumstances.
In their haste to condemn the 2025 presidential pardon, many critics failed to realise that President Tinubu might not have participated in the selection of the beneficiaries. The Federal Government appointed a committee to carry out that task.
Truly, while presenting the full list of beneficiaries in a statement last Saturday, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, had said the decision followed recommendations by the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, chaired by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
Although we are inclined to accept the argument that granting pardon to people who committed ‘grave offences’ does not speak well of a country and may be counter-productive, we believe the very notion of a presidential pardon in itself is well-intentioned.
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Source: TheWillNigeria | Read the Full Story…
