“Of all presidential perks, the pardon power
has a special significance. It is just the kind of authority that would attract
the special attention of someone obsessed with himself and his own ability to influence events.”[1]
According to
Wikipedia, a pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the cancellation of the
relevant penalty. It is usually granted by a head of state (such as a monarch
or president) or by acts of parliament or a religious authority.
In most countries,
pardons are granted where the convicts have been shown to have paid their debts
to the society, or considered to be deserving or have shown remorse. For
instance being of good behavior in the prison or community service. Sometimes,
pardons are also granted to people wrongfully convicted or who claim they have
been wrongfully convicted. A pardon in such circumstance does not set aside the
conviction, it only removes the penalty and restores a clean slate to the
person pardoned but it doesn’t mean the judgment was wrong so if a person who
believes he was wrongfully convicted is pardoned, it does not mean he did not
commit the offence he was tried and convicted for, it only means he has been
forgiven.
The
president isn’t required to explain or justify his actions to anyone. The power
to pardon is left solely to the discretion of the president, and cannot be
reviewed or overturned by any or other branches of government .
Presidential
pardon is not new to the Nigerian government, past Nigerian Heads of state and
presidents have pardoned convicts in the past. We can’t list all but below are
some worthy of note:
President
Shehu Shagari granted pardon to General yakubu Gowon for his role in the coup
that led to the death of General Murtala Muhammed. He also granted Col.
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu pardon for his role in the Nigerian civil war.
General
Abdusallami Abubakar granted a pardon to General Olusegun Obasanjo who was
convicted for treason by General Sani Abacha.
President
Olusegun Obasanjo in turn granted pardon to the former speaker house of
representatives, Alhaji Ibrahim Salisu Buhari who was convicted for forgery and
perjury. President Obasanjo further granted pardons to 13 individuals who were
convicted alongside himself during the 1995 coup trial.
United
States of America is not left out, here is a brief history of some remarkable
pardons by US presidents.
President
George W.Bush commuted the prison sentence of vice- presidential aide I. Lewis
“Scooter” Libby who was tried and convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice
and he was pardoned and he didn’t serve any prison term, just like that.
President
Gerald Ford is widely considered to have lost the 1976 election by pardoning
his predecessor, President Richard M. Nixon; President Bill Clinton was nearly
indicted for one of the 459 pardons he issued during his two terms in office.[2]
Twenty four
hours before leaving office, President Bill Clinton pardoned 140 individuals
including Marc Rich who was indicted for evading more than $48 million in taxes,
and charged with 51 counts of tax fraud, as well as running illegal oil deals
with Iran during the 1979- 1980 hostage crisis. His partner, Pincus Green was
also granted a pardon[3].
Bill Clinton also granted pardon to his half brother Roger Clinton for his
conviction of cocaine possession; and so many others.
The most
recent presidential pardon granted by president Goodluck Jonathan to seven
Nigerians have proved to be very controversial as groups have called on him to
rescind his decision. A lot of issues
have been raised one is that some of the people pardoned by the president had
been pardoned by previous administrations.
General Shehu Musa Yaradua who was pardoned along with President
Olusegun Obasanjo by the Abdusallami Abubakar administration and who is also
dead and buried. Also pardoned were three former army officers who were accused
of coup plotting: Oladipo Diya, Major General Abdulkareem Adisa and Major Fadipe
who were also pardoned by the general Abdusallami Abubakar administration. The
question now is what is the effect of a double pardon in law? Is this a new
precedent or can we say since the earlier pardon was by a military
administrator, it was unconstitutional and now the president just “legalized”
it? Could it also mean that the president and the council of state were not
aware that they had been pardoned before, what happened to the records?
Also
pardoned by President Jonathan are a former managing director of the defunct
bank of the north, Alhaji Shettima Bulama jailed for unauthorized lending
credits to the tune of 600million naira and Mr Bello Mogaji who was convicted
of sodomizing little children was also pardoned. Chief DSP Alamieyesigha who jumped bail in the
Uk on money laundering charges and was later convicted in Nigeria was also
pardoned by president Jonathan. This particular pardon has caused an uproar,
may be because of his history with the president as his political “god father”
or because of the offence he was convicted for which bothers on corruption or
the fact that he is still a fugitive.
S. 175 of
the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as amended grants the
president power to grant pardon to individuals convicted by any law made by the
National assembly. S.212 of the constitution also gives the governor of a state
power to grant any person concerned with or
convicted of any offence created by any law of a state pardon, either
free or subject to lawful conditions;
The main
concern of most people is that by the pardon of ex governor of Bayelsa state, Mr Alamieyesigha
who was convicted for looting the country’s treasury, what message is the
president sending to the youth and entire Nigerian populace? Does it mean this
administration doesn’t care about fighting corruption, does this mean it is now
ok for one to enrich himself with the country’s
wealth, to jump bail in a foreign country and in the process tarnish the
image of Nigeria in the international community and still be entitled to the wealth corruptly amassed?
S.175(1)(d)
of the constitution provides inter alia that the President may remit the whole
or any part of any punishment imposed on that person for such an offence or of
any penalty or forfeiture otherwise due to the state on account of such an
offence.
The import
of the above section is that Mr Alamieyesigha may end up getting back all the
money he stole. He now has a clean slate, he can even run for any public
position like president.
People have
been calling on the president to rethink his decision but we all know it would
be very impossible. It is his right, he cannot be forced to change his mind, it
has already been done, the constitution backs him up and there is hardly
anything anyone can do about it.
In a country
where corruption is celebrated, criminals are set free in the name of pardon,
ex convicts throw parties at the expiration of their sentence, accountability
thrown to the wind, exam malpractice is normal, incompetence and ignorance is
turned into the joke of the week, terrorism the order of the day and the youths
are unemployed, one can say we are hopeless but that shouldn’t be the case. We
can all rise up and fight this madness. It doesn’t have to continue this way.
We are fortunate enough to be in a democratic society, we should rise up to the
challenge, we can elect our officials, not by sitting at home but by
registering and going out to vote, by doing the right thing, by shunning thuggery, cultism, mal practice and violence.
We also have the internet to speak our mind and fight our course, a quiet
revolution can start on the internet, we must not keep quiet and pretend that
it doesn’t affect us, all hands must be on deck to save our Nigeria because we
have no other home.
I will end
this article with this quote by Cindy Sheehan-
“We can’t let somebody
rise to the top who will pardon these war criminals. Because they need to go to
prison for what they’ve done to this world. We can’t have a pardon. They need
to pay for what they have done”.
Long live
the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
[1]
Barbara Olson
[2] How presidential pardons work by Josh Clark
[3]
Short history of presidential pardons in Nigeria and the United states – Obasi
Akpa Obasis
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