President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has granted freedom to at least 40 drug-related offenders and reduced sentences for 20 others servin...
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has granted freedom to at least 40 drug-related offenders and reduced sentences for 20 others serving various jail terms for narcotics offences, as part of a broad clemency exercise that benefited 175 convicts and former convicts nationwide.
According to a statement from the State House on Thursday, the President acted on the recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, chaired by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi (SAN).
The committee found that many of the convicts had demonstrated genuine remorse, good conduct, and a willingness to reform through vocational training or academic study while in custody.
Among those granted full presidential pardon were Nweke Francis Chibueze, 44, who was serving a life sentence for cocaine-related offences, and Kelvin Christopher Smith, 42, sentenced in 2023 for importing cocaine. Others include Azubuike Jeremiah Emeka (cocaine importation), Akinrinnade Adebiyi (Tramadol), and several inmates jailed for possession or sale of cannabis sativa.
In addition, the President reduced the jail terms of over 20 other drug convicts who had shown exemplary behaviour. They include Ifenna Kennechukwu (20 years for cocaine importation, now 12 years), Mgbeike Matthew (20 years for cocaine importation, now 12 years), Patrick Mensah (17 years for drugs, now 11 years), and Tunde Balogun, whose 15-year sentence was cut to 10 years.
Foreign nationals also benefited from the mercy list, including Lima Pereira Erick Diego and Dias Santos Marcia Christiana, both convicted for cocaine importation and now enjoying reduced 10-year terms.
The clemency also extended to other categories of inmates convicted for non-drug-related offences, including Maryam Sanda, who was sentenced to death in 2020 for culpable homicide but received a presidential pardon in consideration of her remorse and her two young children.
Elderly and sick prisoners such as Napolo Osariemen (61), Helen Solomon (68), and Professor Magaji Garba (67), the former Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Gusau, also benefited from sentence reductions on compassionate grounds.
Attorney-General Fagbemi, who presented the committee’s report at the Council of State meeting chaired by President Tinubu, said the decision reflects the administration’s belief that justice should be tempered with mercy.
“The exercise was guided by principles of compassion, fairness, and rehabilitation. The President’s directive ensures that the correctional system serves its reformative purpose,” Fagbemi stated.
The clemency list also includes the posthumous pardon of Major-General Mamman Vatsa, the Ogoni Nine led by Ken Saro-Wiwa, and Sir Herbert Macaulay, whose colonial-era conviction for misappropriation was described as “a historic injustice corrected.”
Overall, 175 individuals benefitted from the exercise — 82 inmates received clemency, 65 had their sentences commuted, and seven death-row inmates had their sentences reduced to life imprisonment.
Officials described the gesture as part of President Tinubu’s ongoing effort to “humanize justice administration” and promote rehabilitation over retribution.
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