By SCM Staff Writer I Sunday, October 12, 2025
LAGOS, Nigeria – Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has launched a blistering attack on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accusing him of “reckless use of presidential pardon” that “undermines justice and emboldens criminality.”
The stunning broadside came following the recent announcement of a mass clemency that saw individuals convicted of serious crimes—including drug trafficking, kidnapping, murder, and corruption—granted a presidential pardon.
Mr. Abubakar, a presidential candidate who lost to Mr. Tinubu in the last election, warned that the decision has sent a “dangerous signal to the public” about the values of the current Nigerian government.
In a scathing statement, the former VP lamented that the pardon “diminishes the sanctity of justice” at a time when Nigeria is grappling with a surge in drug offences and crippling insecurity.
He highlighted the “particularly worrisome” statistic that nearly 30 per cent (29.2%) of those pardoned were convicted for drug-related crimes.
”At a time when our youth are being destroyed by narcotics,” the statement read, “and our nation is still struggling to cleanse its image from the global stain of drug offences, it is both shocking and indefensible.”
Mr. Abubakar then delivered a stinging personal blow to the President, alluding to Mr. Tinubu’s own past legal troubles in the United States.
He called out the “moral irony” that the clemency is “coming from a President whose own past remains clouded by unresolved and unexplained issues relating to the forfeiture of thousands of dollars to the United States government over drug-related investigations.”
Affront to Victims
The pardon power, Atiku stated, is a “solemn prerogative” meant to temper justice with mercy, but he claimed the Tinubu administration has done “the very opposite.”
”Instead, what we have witnessed is a mockery of the criminal justice system, an affront to victims, a demoralization of law enforcement, and a grave injury to the conscience of the nation,” he wrote.
He concluded with a stern warning: “Clemency must never be confused with complicity. When a government begins to absolve offenders of the very crimes it claims to be fighting, it erodes the moral authority of leadership and emboldens lawlessness.”
The Presidency has yet to respond to the fierce criticism.
