Tinubu’s pardon reversal shows strength, not weakness — Onanuga

Bayo Onanuga, spokesperson to President Bola Tinubu, has defended his principal’s decision to revise the presidential pardon list, describing the move as a “demonstration of strength rather than weakness.”

On Wednesday, Tinubu ordered the removal of persons convicted for kidnapping, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and fraud from the list of beneficiaries.

This followed public criticism of the initial list of 175 persons granted clemency on October 11.

Speaking on Arise Television’s ‘Prime Time’ on Thursday, Onanuga said Nigerians should recognise that the president is human and “attentive to public opinion.”

“What Nigerians ought to have seen now is that this president is not one that is afraid to reverse himself if he feels like he’s made some error.

“He’s a human being. He can make mistakes. He listens to the public. This is a president who wakes up in the morning to read all Nigerian newspapers and to watch the TV and knows what’s going on,” Onanuga said.

Speaking further, Onanuga added that the president’s willingness to reassess decisions reflects strength.

“It’s a matter of strength for you to do something, appraise it and make some adjustments,” he said.

One of the controversial cases was that of Maryam Sanda, who was sentenced to death for killing her husband.

Following the public outcry, the president revoked Sanda’s pardon and reduced her sentence to 12 years’ imprisonment.

“Most of the criticisms were coming from the case of Maryam Sanda, whom the court found guilty and sentenced to death for killing her husband,” Onanuga noted.

He also added that the revised pardon list still includes some drug offenders who were granted clemency.

“As to whether the president freed drug convicts, even the second list contains some drug offenders who were also given clemency,” he said.