A lawyer and legal analyst, Frank Tietie, has said that once a president grants a pardon, it cannot be withdrawn.
Tietie stated this on Wednesday during an interview on Arise Television, which was monitored Top Society
He was reacting to President Bola Tinubu’s recent decision to reverse some pardons earlier granted to certain convicts.
It would be recalled that the president had earlier reduced the death sentence of Maryam Sanda to 12 years in prison.
According to Tietie, a presidential pardon becomes final once it is signed.
“If we had a listening president, he would have reversed the fuel subsidy removal and electricity tariff hike,” he said.
“At the time the president signed the first pardon list, it was already a complete action. He does not have the power to reverse it because it has been accepted.
“The president cannot convict anyone. Once he grants a pardon, those people are legally free.
He cannot later say they are no longer fit for pardon. That would be an exercise of judicial power, which the constitution does not allow him to do,” Tietie added.