PRESIDENT CANNOT TAKE BACK GRANTED PARDON — LAWYER FRANK TIETIE

Legal practitioner and public affairs analyst, Frank Tietie, has stated that once a president grants a pardon, it is final and cannot be revoked under Nigerian law.

Tietie made this assertion during an interview on Arise Television on Wednesday while reacting to President Bola Tinubu’s reported reversal of pardons earlier granted to certain convicts.

He argued that the president lacks constitutional authority to withdraw a pardon once it has been formally issued and accepted.

“At the time the president first signed the first list, it was a complete act that he does not have the power to reverse. It was already accepted,” Tietie explained.

He went on to emphasize that the president’s power lies in granting clemency, not in exercising judicial authority.

“The president does not have the power to convict anybody. As of the time he completed the pardon of these persons, they were all free. The president is not the judiciary. He cannot exercise judicial powers by saying you are no longer fit for pardon. It is not within his constitutional power,” he said.

Tietie also criticized what he described as the administration’s disregard for due process in key national decisions, suggesting that a more “listening president” would have reconsidered policies like fuel subsidy removal and tariff hikes.

The lawyer’s comments add to the ongoing debate over the limits of executive power in Nigeria, particularly concerning presidential pardons and their constitutional implications.