Legal practitioner and public affairs analyst, Frank Tietie, has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s decision to reverse previously granted presidential pardons, insisting that such an action is unconstitutional. Read more...
Tietie made the remarks on Wednesday during an interview on Arise Television, which was monitored by DAILY POST. He was reacting to Tinubu’s recent move to withdraw pardons earlier granted to certain convicts.
Recall that President Tinubu, on Wednesday, commuted the death sentence of Maryam Sanda who had been convicted of killing her husband to 12 years imprisonment.
Reacting to the development, Tietie argued that once a presidential pardon has been granted, it becomes final and cannot be revoked.
“If we had a listening president, he would have reversed the fuel subsidy removal and the tariff increases,” Tietie said. “At the time the president signed the first list of pardons, it was a complete and concluded act. He no longer had the power to reverse it — it was already effective.”
Tietie further emphasized that the president lacks judicial authority, noting that the power to convict or revoke pardons does not lie within the executive arm.
“The president is not the judiciary,” he continued. “He cannot exercise judicial powers by declaring that those who were pardoned are no longer fit for pardon. It is not within his constitutional power.”
The remarks have sparked renewed debate over the scope of presidential powers and the constitutional limits of executive actions in Nigeria.