The presidency has justified the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to grant pardons to two convicted ex-Governors Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame under the Prerogative of Mercy.
This follows the backlash that has greeted the decision to grant Dariye, Nyame, and 157 others pardon at a council of state meeting held on April 14, 2022.
There had been outcries against the decision with many people of the belive that the pardon is contradictory to the position of the federal government on the fight against corruption.
Jolly Nyame, a former Taraba State Governor was jailed for 12 years after he was found guilty of diverting N1.64 billion government funds during his tenure while Joshua Dariye was also sentenced to a 10-year jail term for N1.126 billion fraud.
But presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu in a statement on Wednesday has defended the decision to pardon the two former Governors, saying it was the right thing to do given the circumstances that informed the decision.
Shehu in his statement explained that the decision was not only constitutional based on the advice of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy (PACPM) but was also based on health challenges which included threats to life.
He argued that it would have been cruel and insensitive for the President not to consider the cases after due process had been followed and the matters found to be genuine.
The presidential spokesperson also denied speculations that the steps were politically motivated and targeted at the 2023 elections.
The full statement titled ‘DARIYE, NYAME PARDON IN LINE WITH CONSTITUTION, WILL NOT DERAIL ANTI-CORRUPTION WAR BY PRESIDENT BUHARI’ reads:
“The Presidency wishes to throw light on the recent note presented to the Council of State, on the report of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, PACPM as a culmination of a process begun by the convicts and others concerned in line with the Constitution.
“Section 175 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999(as amended) enjoins the President to exercise his constitutional powers “to grant any person concerned with or convicted of any offence created by an Act of the National Assembly a pardon, either free or subject to lawful conditions; to grant respite, either for an indefinite or a specified period of the execution of any punishment imposed on that person for such an offence; substitute a less severe form of punishment imposed on that person for such an offence or remit the whole or any part of any punishment imposed on the person for such an offence or of penalty or forfeiture otherwise due to the state on account of such an offence.”
“The Federal Government constituted the PACPM on August 28th, 2018 with the mandate of assisting the President in the discharge of his constitutional responsibility of granting pardon/clemency to convicts or ex-convicts in deserving cases.
“The Committee filed its first report in March 2020 and reconvened on Thursday, 28 September 2021 to attend to the myriad of pending applications for presidential pardon and clemency from Nigerians across the country.
“These accrued cases followed the established process of applying for pardon or clemency first to the Correctional Service (formerly Nigerian Prison Service), which must certify claims made, be they of life-threatening ill-health, (as in the cases of Governors Dariye, Nyame; John Joshua Uloh, Engr Umar Bamalli, Sa’adu Ayinla Alanamu, Charles Ihenatu, Akinwumi Ajayi and tens of others making the approved list of 159; or such cases arising from remorse and good conduct or plainly on the basis of compassion among other stated criteria.
“The PACPM members, under the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, followed up the recommendations with a visit to selected Correctional Centers in several states of the Federation to “critically appraise and identify potential cases of convicts and ex-convicts before recommending them for presidential pardon/clemency and reduced sentences.”
“In this round of the exercise, 412 inmates were interviewed and 162 were recommended to the Council of State by the President in the exercise of his powers, pursuant to Section 175 (2) which requires that he should carry out this function after being “advised by the Council.”
“Clearly, the presentation to the Council of States meeting last week, attended by former Presidents, a former Chief Justice and 36 States and the FCT along the lines of its statutory membership was a culmination of a rigorous process, regulated and guided by the law which was not, in any way designed to achieve a political purpose.
“While it is natural that the cases of the ex-governors-two among many- would excite political analysts, coming at a time when elections are in the air, the President would at the same time have come across as insensitive and cruel to most people were he to have ignored very compelling cases recommended for pardon made to him because someone is a former Governor. Even Governors have the right to be treated fairly under the law.
“President Buhari assures the nation that nothing done here was intended to achieve a political end or send a revisionist message on the relentless war against corruption which he has ably and evidently led by personal examples.”
This article was originally published on Nigeria News