Jonathan’s Pardon Gambit

The Council of State, based on a request by President Goodluck Jonathan, last week granted pardon to former Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and some other persons who had been convicted for various offences. However, of all the beneficiaries of the state pardon, that of Alamieyeseigha attracted public opprobrium for the president. THISDAY’s Political Desk discusses why the former governor’s pardon stirred so many emotions among people and how it would affect public perception of the Jonathan administration

Unlike most former United States presidents who granted pardons throughout their terms, Mr. Bill Clinton, was strategic in terms of timing. As a tactician, he understood when to move forward or retreat. Clinton, on January 20, 2001- his last day in office- granted pardon to no fewer than 140 persons with varying offences.
But of all the pardons granted by Clinton, the one extended to Marc Rich, a fugitive who had fled the US  to Switzerland  during his prosecution attracted criticism from the American public. Rich owed $48 million in taxes and was charged with 51 counts that majorly bordered on tax fraud. He was required to pay a $100 million fine and waive any use of the pardon as a defence against any future civil charges that were filed against him in the same case.
Critics had alleged that Rich was a beneficiary of the presidential prerogative of mercy because his former wife, Denise,   made substantial donations to both the Clinton library and to Mrs. Hilary Clinton's Senate campaign. According to Paul Volcker's independent investigation of Iraqi Oil-for-Food kickback schemes, Rich was an intermediary for several suspect Iraqi oil deals involving over 4 million barrels of oil.

Unfortunately for Clinton, some of his long time supporters and Democratic leaders such as former President Jimmy Carter, James Carville and Terry McAuliffe, were all critical of the pardon. Particularly, Carter said the pardons were “disgraceful”.

But as at the time Clinton was leaving, he had nothing to lose. The elections had been held and concluded in November of the previous year. He was merely waiting to hand over to George Bush who would succeed him. He knew the controversy his gesture would elicit and had his plan well worked out. Indeed, he left unhurt.

However, the same thing cannot be said of President Goodluck Jonathan, who midway into his first term in office   may have committed what some analysts called political suicide for granting state pardon to his convicted former boss, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. Jonathan was Alamieyeseigha’s deputy as Bayelsa State governor when the Federal Government masterminded his removal from office to pave the way for his subsequent trial for money laundering offences.

The president, last week, had presented a request for approval of the pardon to the Council of State at its meeting at the State House, Abuja.

Besides Alamieyeseigha, others included on the pardon list were former Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters,  the late Maj. Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua; former Bank of the North Managing Director, Mohammed Bulama; former Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Oladipo Diya; former Minister of Works,  the late Maj. Gen. Abdulkareem Adisa, Major Bello Magaji and Muhammad Biu.

The Yar’Adua, Diya and the late Adisa were convicted for their involvement in the phantom coup against then Head of State, late General Sani Abacha in 1995. While Yar’Adua died in prison in December 1997, Adisa died following an accident several years after he was released from detention.

Generally, state pardon is controversial, except in rare instances.  However, Jonathan stirred the hornet’s nest not much for the pardon, but for the timing, especially given the inclusion of Alamieyeseigha on the list. Analysts have argued that it was politically inexpedient and the decision may have dire consequences for the second term bid of the president, whenever he throws his hat into the ring again.

Although, there are those who held the view that doing so midway into his tenure could be an indication that he was not interested in a re-election and as such, did not “give a damn” what anyone thinks; that argument, others have countered does not obviate the fact that the pardon was ill-timed.

Flashing back on Diya and Co
The late Yar'Adua, Diya, and the late Adisa, among others, were arrested for being part of the phantom coup against the late Abacha. While Yar'Adua was arrested in 1995, tried by a special military tribunal and jailed for life; others were arrested in 1997, tried by yet another special military tribunal and were sentenced to death.

Efforts by the Abacha regime to authenticate the coup plot story through a video footage shown to eminent Nigerians created more confusion in the polity. Some traditional rulers, especially from Ogun State and led by the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, insisted on seeing Diya to hear his side of the story.  It was in the midst of the coup controversy that Abacha suddenly died.
Soon after his death, pressures for pardon for the coup convicts were mounted on the military leadership, more so since it was widely believed that the coup story was cooked up.

But unlike Yar'Adua who died in prison, others were granted clemency by the regime of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar that succeeded that of the late Abacha.  

On their release, some retired to private lives, while others played politics. One of such was Adisa who championed the Project 007 for former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida. Aside the Project 007 whose gospel he spread across the North-central and the South-west, he had joined, prior to his phantom coup saga, the Democratic Party of Nigeria, whose platform he used to challenge the political dominance of Kwara State by Dr. Olusola Saraki.

Whilst he survived the Abacha tyranny, he did not live to witness 2007 for the actualisation of the Babangida presidency as he died in a London hospital in February 2005 following injuries he sustained in a lone auto crash in December 2004.

The matriarch of the Adisa family, Hajia Rahmatallahi, in an interview with THISDAY, expressed joy at the state pardon granted the former Minister of Works and his colleagues in the phantom coup plot. But she expressed regrets that the pardon was coming posthumously for their breadwinner. “All the same, we thank God for this pardon.”

The Adisa widow was full of praises for President Jonathan and members of the Council of State who approved the pardon for her late husband and others. "Though the pardon has been long expected because we applied for pardon for our man five times under different situation, we thank God for the time it has come,” adding that the family is awaiting further details of the pardon as well as an official letter from the presidency on the development.

Between Pardon and Clemency
Unfortunately, while the inclusion of Alamieyeseigha on the list of those granted pardon has continued to attract public rage, fresh facts emerged last week that the state pardon granted to the late Yar’Adua, Diya and the late Adisa, might have been in error as the former military chiefs had been pardoned for their offences by   Abubakar in the twilight of his regime in 1999.

Abubakar, in a gazette dated March 4, 1999, had granted “clemency” to nine military officers and soldiers convicted for their involvement in the Abacha coup. But they were ordered to forfeit their assets to the Federal Government. Abubakar also granted a posthumous pardon to Yar’Adua and former Head of State, Gen Olusegun Obasanjo, who was also roped in the phantom coup plot. It was the pardon that enabled Obasanjo to qualify to run for the 1999 presidential election, which he won as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). 

There were some other military officers granted pardon on March 4, 1999 and ordered to be released immediately from prison where they were serving their jail terms after being convicted by a special military tribunal.

Citing sources, THISDAY had reported in its edition of March 5, 1999 that pardon and clemency had different interpretations in the military. As such, Diya and others who were granted “clemency” could not use their ranks whereas those pardoned could do so.
But disagreeing with the military interpretation, human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), told THISDAY that both pardon and clemency convey the same meaning under the Nigerian constitution. “When they are granted clemency, it is mercy by the state; it is the remission of their offence. They (government) have wiped out their offences and that means they never committed any offence.”

He explained that Section 161 of the 1979 Constitution, amended by the (Suspension and Modification) Decree of 1993 under which Abubakar exercised his powers is the same as Section 175 of the extant 1999 Constitution, which confers on the president the powers to grant a pardon.

Thus, relating this to the pardon granted Yar’Adua, Diya and Adisa on Tuesday, Falana said: “The implication of what has happened is that the government did not take into consideration this legal instrument that was issued in March 1999.” According to him, the trio had effectively been granted a state pardon twice, first by the military regime headed by Abubakar, and now the Council of State led by Jonathan.

The Rage, the Defence
Certainly, the dust raised by this presidential gesture is not going to settle anytime soon, especially with the suspicion that the main reason for granting the pardon was Alamieyeseigha while the names of the others were included on the list as a red herring.

Addressing a news conference in Abuja last week, the Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to the President, Dr. Doyin Okupe, appealed to Nigerians and members of the civil society to keep an open mind on the pardon granted the former Bayelsa governor, saying apart from the remorse he had shown, Alamieyeseigha has been quietly playing a key role in stabilising the volatile Niger Delta region.

Okupe, who reminded Nigerians that Alamieyeseigha was removed from office in a manner that was suggested by many as not being entirely above board, noted that the former governor has been adequately punished for his misdemeanour and demonstrated enough sobriety after he served his sentence.

“I want to state categorically here, that state or presidential pardon is not intended for nobility or saints. In general, a state pardon is for those who have committed crimes and breached the laws of the land and may or may not have been tried or convicted regardless of their social status.

“He lost his position, forfeited the property illegally acquired and has demonstrated enough soberness after he served his sentence. It is out of place to suggest that the pardon is tantamount to abandoning the fight against corruption in Nigeria. This is too far from the truth,” he said.

Source: ThisDayOnline