Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned President Bola Tinubu’s latest choice to grant presidential pardons to people convicted of significant crimes resembling drug trafficking, kidnapping, homicide, and corruption, describing it as “reckless” and “a grave assault on justice.”
In a press release on Sunday, Atiku stated the clemency not solely diminishes the sanctity of justice but additionally sends a harmful sign to Nigerians and the worldwide neighborhood in regards to the ethical values of the present administration.
He confused that the presidential pardon is “a solemn prerogative” designed to mood justice with mercy, to not protect offenders from accountability.
“When correctly exercised, it elevates justice and strengthens public religion in governance,” Atiku stated. “However this newest pardon by the Tinubu administration is the direct reverse.”
The previous vice chairman expressed concern that at a time when Nigeria is grappling with insecurity, ethical decay, and rising drug-related crimes, “the presidency would prioritise clemency for these whose actions have immediately undermined nationwide stability and social order.”
Atiku famous that 29.2 % of these pardoned had been convicted of drug-related offences, describing it as “deeply troubling” for a nation nonetheless battling to cleanse its picture from international drug stigma.
“Much more disturbing is the ethical irony that this act of clemency is coming from a president whose personal previous stays clouded by unresolved and unexplained points regarding the forfeiture of 1000’s of {dollars} to the US authorities over drug-related investigations,” he stated.
Atiku added that the transfer displays a “worrying tolerance for people related to legal enterprise.”
He argued that presidential pardon ought to symbolise restitution and ethical reform, lamenting that the Tinubu administration has as a substitute turned it into “a mockery of the legal justice system, an affront to victims, a demoralisation of legislation enforcement, and a grave damage to the conscience of the nation.”
“Clemency must not ever be confused with complicity,” Atiku stated. “When a authorities begins to absolve offenders of the very crimes it claims to be preventing, it erodes the ethical authority of management and emboldens lawlessness.
“Nigeria deserves a management that upholds justice, not one which trivialises it.”
Please observe and like us:
