Former Senator Dino Melaye has slammed President Bola Tinubu’s recent presidential clemency, claiming that a significant number of those pardoned were convicted on drug-related charges.

In a post on X on Sunday, Melaye alleged that about 70 of the 175 individuals granted clemency were drug offenders, calling the move “unprecedented in history.” He argued that no other government had ever issued such a large-scale pardon to convicted drug criminals.

“Pardon granted to 70 drug lords by President Tinubu is unprecedented in history. Checks show it has never happened anywhere in the world. My advice to the President is to scrap the NDLEA, as his action has rendered the agency’s efforts meaningless since its inception,” Melaye stated.

The presidential clemency extended to 175 individuals included prominent figures such as the late environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, nationalist Herbert Macaulay, Major General Mamman Vatsa, and Maryam Sanda, who had been sentenced to death for killing her husband.