The Council of State on Thursday approved the presidential pardon granted to a former Governor of old Bendel State between 1979 and 1983, late Professor Ambrose Ali and three others.
Ali was convicted over N900,000 fraud, an amount which he later refunded to the government coffer.
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Other personalities, whose presidential pardon were ratified, were ex Lt. Col. Moses Effiong and Major E.J Olarenwaju who were convicted for attempted coup during the Ibrahim Babangida military era as well as Ajayi Olusola Babalola.
The Council of State meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, was attended by four former heads of state, including General Yakubu Gowon, General Ibrahim Babangida; Chief Earnest Shonekan, General Abdulsalami Abubakar and Goodluck Jonathan.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was absent at the meeting which was attended by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmed Lawan, former Chief Justices of Nigeria, Governors, Ministers, Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, and senior government officials.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, said the approval of the presidential pardon came after a memo he presented relating to the Presidential Advisory Committee on Prerogative of Mercy.
“To further clarify on the prerogative of mercy, Mr. president with COVID-19 pandemic, has directed the decongestion of our correctional centers across the country. And by way of collaborative action, the governors, heads of courts across the nations, have worked assiduously in collaboration with the presidential committee on decongestion of our correctional centers and at the end of the day we have succeeded in taking out over 4,000 inmates out of our correctional centers across the country.
“What we have today is a consolidation of what has been done and the strategies put in place to see to the decongestion of our correctional centers.
“More than 70 percent inmates in our correctional centers were awaiting trial across the country and a lot of considerations were put in place to ensure our correctional centers are decongested d the prerogative of mercy was one of such considerations by Mr. President.”
The AGF said the Council of State also ratified the appointment of two new legal practitioners as members of Federal Judicial Service Commission.
“The two members to represent the Nigerian Bar Association on the federal judicial service commission are Namoso Ekanem, from Akwa Ibom state representing South South and Mahmud Abubakar Mogaji from Niger State to represent North Central.”
The SFG, while speaking, said the council of state also ratified the appointment of Silas Agara, as Chairman of National Population Commission.
Members of the Commission also approved are: Muhammed Chuso A. Dottijo, (Sokoto); Alhaji Razaq Gidado, (Kwara); Ibrahim Mohammed, (Bauchi); Joseph Kwai Shazin, (FCT); Engineer Bala Almu Banya, (Katsina); and Mrs Bimbola Salu-Hundeyin, (Lagos).
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