Legal practitioner and public affairs analyst, Frank Tietie, has stated that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu lacks the constitutional power to reverse a presidential pardon once it has been granted.
Tietie made this assertion on Wednesday during an interview on Arise Television, monitored by DAILY POST, while reacting to the president’s decision to revoke pardons previously granted to certain convicted individuals.
He cited constitutional limitations, stressing that the power of pardon is a one-time act that cannot be undone.
“If we had a listening president in power, he would have reversed the fuel subsidy removal and the increase in tariff,” Tietie remarked.
“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.
“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.”
DAILY POST recalls that President Tinubu on Wednesday commuted the death sentence handed to Maryam Sanda — who was convicted of killing her husband — to 12 years imprisonment, in what appeared to be a partial reversal of a previous pardon list.
Tietie’s comments have since sparked debate about the limits of executive powers in the exercise of presidential clemency.
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