The former Vice President, in a strongly worded statement on Sunday, said the action was a gross abuse of executive privilege and a disturbing reflection of the Tinubu administration’s values. He noted that the decision to extend clemency to persons convicted of drug trafficking, kidnapping, murder, and corruption was not only insensitive but dangerous to the nation’s stability and international reputation.
Atiku stated that while the presidential power of pardon is meant to “temper justice with mercy,” the current exercise by President Tinubu has “achieved the very opposite.” According to him, the mass pardon “diminishes the sanctity of justice, demoralizes law enforcement officers, and makes a mockery of the criminal justice system.”
He said, “The power of pardon is a solemn constitutional prerogative designed to uplift humanity and correct miscarriages of justice, not to reward individuals whose actions have plunged our nation deeper into insecurity, drug abuse, and corruption. What President Tinubu has done is an affront to the moral conscience of the Nigerian state.”
Atiku expressed alarm over reports that nearly 30 percent of those pardoned were convicted of drug-related offences, describing the move as “a slap in the face of Nigerian youths whose lives are being destroyed daily by narcotics.” He warned that such actions send the wrong signal both to the international community and to the country’s law enforcement agencies struggling to curb the surge in drug trafficking and related crimes.
“It is shocking that at a time when Nigeria is battling drug addiction and moral decay, the government would rather pardon those who have contributed to this menace,” he said. “This is not mercy — it is complicity.”
The former Vice President also took aim at President Tinubu’s moral standing, recalling past controversies surrounding his alleged involvement in drug-related financial forfeitures in the United States. “It is not lost on Nigerians that this act of clemency comes from a President whose own past remains clouded by unanswered questions about drug-linked forfeitures abroad. It explains why this government continues to demonstrate tolerance toward individuals tied to criminal enterprise,” Atiku added.
He further argued that the decision undermines the sacrifices of law enforcement personnel and disrespects victims of violent and economic crimes.
“A pardon should reflect moral reform and genuine remorse, not political convenience or misplaced sympathy,” Atiku said. “By absolving offenders of crimes the government claims to be fighting, the Tinubu administration has traded justice for impunity.”
Calling for accountability, Atiku urged Nigerians to remain vigilant against what he described as “a dangerous normalization of corruption and criminality” under the current leadership.
“Nigeria deserves a government that upholds justice, not one that trivializes it,” he said. “This reckless pardon has once again exposed the moral decay at the heart of this administration.
