Follow Us on Google
By Vincent Kalu, Tunde Thomas, Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Lukman Olabiyi
Some prominent Nigerians, including senior lawyers, and a major civil society group have expressed concerns over the propriety of the Federal government’s pardon granted former Governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye; and ex-Governor Jolly Nyame of Taraba State, imprisoned for stealing N1.16 billion and N1.6 billion respectively.
The two were among the 159 convicts pardoned this week by the Council of State led by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Chief Frank Kokori, former General Secretary of The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and eminent lawyer insisted the pardon was morally wrong and places a big question mark on the President’s avowed war against corruption.
But Itse Sagay and other SANs interviewed by Saturday Sun said the pardon was within the constitutional powers of the president.
In his reaction, Executive Director of CISLAC and Head of Transparency International Nigeria, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, described the pardon as political settlement and a major setback to the nation’s progress and achievements in the war against corruption. He added that it would only go to validate the public perception of the administration’s fight against corruption in the country, as something partial and lopsided.
Rafsanjani said: “More importantly, we recall the huge financial resource, funded by taxpayers’ money committed in the process of investigation and conviction of the pardoned individuals, even when thousands of common Nigerians are abandoned in jails awaiting trial for trivial offences.
“We sincerely hope that the processes and objectives of such Presidential pardon will be re-examined and made transparent to avoid bad precedence, especially as the nation moves towards political transition in the 2023 general elections. We also call for the extension of such pardon to common Nigerians awaiting trial, forgotten or abandoned in jails for trivial offences across the country.”
Rights activist and lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN) said the president should free all prisoners jailed for stealing. The man who was a guest speaker at an event organised to celebrate one year anniversary of late Yinka Odumakin and the launching of Yinka Odumakin Foundation, held in Lagos, insisted that the 1999 constitution accords equal rights to all citizens. “My reaction is that all criminals, all thieves and criminals in our prisons should be released,” he said.
He argued further: “The constitution said there shall be no discrimination on the basis of class, gender, whatever. So you cannot take out two people and leave the rest there. If the government doesn’t release others, I am going to suggest to lawyers whose clients are likely to be left in prison to go to court and challenge the discriminatory treatment meted out to their own clients. If you want to pardon your friends, you must also extend the presidential pardon to all thieves because if the big thieves are being asked to walk away, we must also extend it to others.”
Kokori said that while it is within the prerogative powers of President Buhari to grant state pardon to the two “my worry is that this government is not fighting corruption. Corruption is gradually killing the country. Under Buhari, Nigeria is getting more corrupt. He told us that he was going to fight corruption before he was elected into office but seven years after, corruption is still thriving, and one thing is that once people are not punished for corruption, it will continue to fester.’’
Mr. Seyi Sowemimo, SAN, noted that the government needs to give enough reason to prove that the duo deserved it, to avoid sending the wrong signal to the general public on its campaign against corruption.
Another SAN, Mr. Solo Akuma, said that issue of pardon is at government’s discretion and whoever deserves it could get it. He added that the two former governors must have learned their lessons during their imprisonment. Besides, according to him, pardon is another way to decongest the prison.
Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof Itse Sagay, SAN, said that he would not query the President’s action because he had more facts than anyone on why he did that.
