Immediate past Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, was in attendance at a meeting of the National Council of State on Thursday with ex-President, Olusegun Obasanjo, conspicuously missing.
Following a petition by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which alleged “financial impropriety, infidelity to the constitution” among others, the embattled Onnoghen resigned in April 2019.
On his part, Obasanjo has remained a stern critic of President Muhammadu Buhari, unlike other ex-leaders.
President Buhari presided over the virtual meeting from the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The council has as its members the President, who is the Chairman; the Vice-President, who is the Deputy Chairman; all living former Presidents, all living former Heads of the Government of the Federation; all former Chief Justices of Nigeria; the President of the Senate; the Speaker of the House of Representatives; all the state governors and the Attorney-General of the Federation.
While former President Goodluck Jonathan joined Buhari to attend the meeting physically, former Head of the Interim National Government, Ernest Shonekan, and three former military Heads of State, Yakubu Gowon, Abdusalami Abubakar and Ibrahim Babangida, attended virtually while Obasanjo was absent.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), disclosed after the meeting that the State has ratified the presidential pardon granted to a former governor of the defunct Bendel State, Ambrose Alli, and three others.
They include two military officers – Col. Moses Effiong and Major E.J Olanrewaju, and a civilian, Ajayi Babalola.
Alli was convicted by a military tribunal for allegedly misappropriating N983,000 meant for a road project and sentenced to 100 years in prison.
He died on September 22, 1989.
Effiong and Olarenwaju were convicted for their role in the attempt to topple Babangida’s regime in 1990.
The ratification, according to Malami, was based on a memorandum he presented to the council on the Presidential Advisory Committee on Prerogative of Mercy.
The AGF said, “The memo presented for consultation in line with one of the constitutional requirements and consideration for granting of pardon to 45 persons: two inmates for pardon, 39 inmates for clemency and four ex-convicts for presidential pardon.
“To further clarify on the prerogative of mercy, Mr. President, with COVID-19 pandemic, directed the decongestion of our correctional centres across the country.
“By way of collaborative action, the governors and heads of courts across the nations have worked assiduously in collaboration with the presidential committee on decongestion of our correctional centres and at the end of the day, we have succeeded in taking out over 4,000 inmates out of our correctional centres 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 centres.”
