A human rights lawyer, Maduabuchi Idam, has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to extend clemency to the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, following the recent presidential pardon granted to Maryam Sanda.
Sanda, who was convicted in 2017 for the murder of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, was sentenced to death after the court found her guilty of stabbing him in the chest during a domestic dispute. Her defence — that Bello fell on a shisha bottle during an argument — was rejected by both the trial court and the Court of Appeal.
In a statement on Saturday, Idam argued that if the President could show mercy to Sanda, similar compassion should be extended to Kanu and others arrested over the Biafra agitation.
Quoting Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the lawyer said the President holds the constitutional power to grant pardons upon consultation with the Council of State. He, however, stressed that while the exercise of such powers is legally valid, it remains “morally challenging.”
“The President is constitutionally justified in granting pardons after due consultation, though such actions may raise moral and national questions,” Idam said. “If Maryam Sanda can be pardoned after being convicted of murder, it is only just and humane to consider similar mercy for Nnamdi Kanu, whose prolonged detention has yielded neither peace nor national cohesion.”
The activist lawyer further clarified that while the President cannot directly withdraw a case still before the court, he can lawfully instruct the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) to enter a nolle prosequi — a constitutional power that allows the discontinuance of prosecution at any stage before judgment.
Citing judicial precedents such as State v. Lucky Igbinedion (2014) and Lakanmi v. A-G (Western Region) (1971), Idam explained that the prerogative of mercy must not pre-empt judicial proceedings but can be properly invoked after conviction or through lawful discontinuance by the AGF.
He therefore urged President Tinubu to “extend the olive branch of peace” to Kanu and other agitators, emphasising that “their continued detention has neither advanced justice nor promoted national unity.”
Nnamdi Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since 2021 following his re-arrest abroad, with multiple court orders for his release yet to be enforced.
