BMO flays critics of Presidential Pardon, says Buhari acted in good faith

The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has faulted criticisms that trailed the presidential pardon for former governors of Plateau and Taraba, Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame.

The group said that the missiles deployed by the critics were wrongly fired at the President who acted only on humanitarian grounds, and on the advice of a body constitutionally empowered to give such advice.

In a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, BMO noted that “in pardoning the over 160 prisoners, the President followed due processes and the Constitution of the country.

“The president pardoned them based on the recommendations of the Presidential Committee on Prerogative of Mercy chaired by the chief law officer of the federation, Abubakar Malami.

“Members of the committee had embarked on visitation of prisons across the country for on-the-spot evaluation, after which they made the recommendations for pardon.

“We note that the Council of State that approved the pardon comprised of the president, vice president, former presidents, 36 state governors, chief justice of the federation, among others, and this set of eminent Nigerians cannot act in a trivial manner.

“On the issue of corruption, we want to restate that the President Buhari administration remains focussed on wiping corruption out of Nigeria and the results are already showing,” it said.

On the accusation that the President must have pardoned the duo of Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame to help his party in the upcoming elections, BMO wondered what roles the pardoned governors can play in the elections in the two states.

“We believe that they will go home and seek medical attention, and get deserved rest from their long incarceration. It is important to note that Dariye was already in prison when the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the Plateau governorship, while Jolly Nyame does not have the political strength to influence the Taraba elections.

“Besides, President Muhammadu Buhari ran and won his last election in 2019, and there is no justification to release the duo for political purposes.

“We want to reiterate the fact that the pardon has no political undertone, but is purely based on humanitarian grounds and rule of law. Additionally, the President does not have any political, religious or ethnic affiliation with any of the beneficiaries of the pardon,” the group said.