Popular journalist Rufai Oseni has taken a swipe at President Bola Tinubu over his recent decision to grant presidential pardon and clemency to 175 persons.

Oseni, speaking on Monday, October 13, criticized the move, noting that some of the beneficiaries were individuals whose convictions were hard-fought by the Nigerian justice system.

Speaking further and in a tone laced with sarcasm, Oseni suggested other names that, in his view, should be included in the President’s next round of pardons.

He said: “You see, at this rate, let’s all go mad together. Because if we have now become a nation where we pardon criminals that our institutions fought hard to convict, then President Tinubu, your next pardon, I have some names for you. You must pardon Lawrence Anini.

You must pardon Oyenusi, the criminal. You must pardon Shekau. Look at the joke Nigeria has become. You pardon all these people who have perpetrated heinous crimes, then you now have to drag the name of Herbert Macaulay into it to make it look legitimate. You now have to drag some of our founding fathers into it to make it appear proper.”

The individuals granted presidential pardon and clemency include late environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, nationalist Herbert Macaulay, Major General Mamman Vatsa, and Maryam Sanda, who was sentenced to death for killing her husband.

According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the decision followed recommendations by the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, chaired by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).

The list, released on Saturday, was divided into six categories — pardoned, posthumous pardon (including the Ogoni Nine), victims of the Ogoni Nine honoured, presidential clemency beneficiaries, inmates recommended for reduced terms of imprisonment, and inmates on death row whose sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.