THE presidential pardon granted former Bayelsa State governor, Depreiye Alamieyeseigha, may never go down well with most Nigerians as more high profile figures have condemned it.
The latest condemnation came from the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, in his Easter message.
Onaiyekan, troubled by the pardon - like many Nigerians since the news of it broke - dedicated his Easter message to condemning it.
President Goodluck Jonathan drew local and international anger after he granted state pardon to his former boss, Alamieyeseigha. The former governor, wanted in the United Kingdom for money laundering and convicted in Nigeria for embezzling state funds while he was in office, was pardoned alongside another convict and former head of the Bank of the North, Shettima Bulama.
Bulama, like Alamieyeisegha, was investigated and later prosecuted for corruption by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for crimes committed as head of a Nigerian bank.
While many Nigerians have described it as the worst setback to the fight against corruption in the country, the controversial pardon sparked diplomatic row between Nigeria and the United States, with the Americans threatening to punish Nigeria over Jonathan’s action.
The president also drew public anger for the pardon of a former army major, Bello Magaji, a homosexual rapist whom the Supreme Court jailed for five years for serially sodomising four teenage boys.
Onaiyekan, who spoke to Premium Times, an on-line publication, said the pardon is a “case where moral issues is at stake, where people are condemned or liable to be condemned for breaking the law and going against moral norms.”
According to the cleric, Alamieyeisegha and Bulama, and others ‘unjustly’ pardoned, ought to have shown some form of public repentance “which should be clear to everyone.”
“Furthermore, a sincere effort must be made to pay back as much as possible of what has been stolen. That money belongs to the Nigerian people and it must be given back to them (as a precondition for the pardon),” he added.
The Cardinal advised the government not to forget that the issue of massive corruption in high places is of major concern to Nigerians who are fast losing confidence in the sincerity of government to turn the tide.
“Pardon for high profile corruption cases will certainly reduce further whatever is left of the confidence of the people. This has serious political and social fall-out that government cannot afford to ignore.
“We must tell the truth that anger is mounting in the land, especially among the youth whose patience is running out. The clock of social tension is dangerously ticking towards explosion. The nation is in danger. What is needed are clear and visible gestures of reassurance that a real change and genuine transformation for the better has started,” he said.
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