Reactions have continued trailing the state pardon granted by President Muhammadu Buhari to former governors Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame of Plateau and Taraba respectively who were convicted for money laundering.
Buhari presided over a meeting of the National Council of State on Thursday where the pardons were handed to the former governors and 157 others.
Nyame, 66, was serving a 12-year jail term at the Kuje Correctional Centre for misappropriation N1.6 billion while he was in office. Dariye, 64, was jailed for stealing N1.16 billion of public funds.
Rights lawyer Femi Falana on Friday criticised Buhari for granting the pardons to the former governors and overlooking petty thieves. Mr Falana noted that when the “big thieves” are being released because they belong to the ruling party, petty thieves who were jailed because of crimes committed due to hunger must also be set free.
Speaking at the first anniversary of Comrade Yinka Odumakin Lecture and Book Presentation held in Lagos, Falana said that injustice in the country must discontinue.
“When we are talking of justice and fair play, if you want to pardon some set of people, then you must also extend presidential pardon to petty thieves in the prisons,” he said.
Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom, on the other hand, praised Buhari for the gesture.
Mr Ortom, who appealed for state pardons for the duo a fortnight ago, said in a statement on Friday by his chief press secretary Nathaniel Ikyur that some useful lessons must have been learnt from the incarceration of the duo for abuse of office.
