A legal practitioner and public affairs analyst, Frank Tietie, has stated that once a president grants a pardon, it cannot be withdrawn.
Tietie made this known on Wednesday during an interview on Arise Television.
He was responding to President Bola Tinubu’s decision to reverse pardons earlier granted to individuals convicted of various offences.
President Tinubu had on Wednesday commuted the death sentence of Maryam Sanda to a 12-year prison term.
Reacting to the development, Tietie said, “If we had a listening president in power, he would have reversed the fuel subsidy removal and increase in tariff.”
“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.”
