Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has called on President Bola Tinubu to prevent a recurrence of what he described as the national embarrassment caused by the recently released presidential pardon list.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Friday, Falana criticised the Federal Government for the “poorly handled” and “constitutionally flawed” pardon process, which he said brought ridicule and odium upon the country.
According to the senior advocate, the inclusion of several undeserving individuals on the list made the entire exercise questionable.
“It is not the first time that this exercise has been mishandled, but this time around, the country was exposed to odium, and there was no basis for it,” Falana said.
“Those who were not deserving of pardon were recommended for pardon.”
Falana revealed that one of the individuals granted clemency had been prosecuted by the EFCC for 11 years and convicted as recently as April 2025, raising questions about the credibility and motivation behind the selection process.
He further condemned the inclusion of persons convicted under state laws, stressing that Section 212 of the Constitution reserves the power to pardon such offenders exclusively for state governors, not the President.
“By virtue of Section 212 of the Constitution, only the governor of a state can pardon people convicted for stealing, obtaining by false pretence, murder, or culpable homicide. But all those names were there,” he stated.
While the government claimed that the initial list of about 175 names was later trimmed to 35, Falana insisted that the issue was not about the number but the process.
He urged the Attorney-General of the Federation to tender a public apology to Nigerians, describing the episode as a “colossal embarrassment” that must never happen again.
“It is not enough to say we have reviewed the list and reduced it. The government owes itself a duty to ensure that such embarrassment does not occur again. The very least the Attorney-General can do is to apologise. It is not done that way,” Falana concluded.
