A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Barrister Kenneth Okonkwo, has faulted the recent presidential pardon granted to individuals convicted of various offences in Nigeria.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, on the 20th of October, 2025, the Nollywood actor-turned-politician criticized what he described as entrenched corruption across government systems.
He recalled that President Bola Tinubu had recently approved clemency for several inmates, including Maryam Sanda, who was sentenced to death for killing her husband.
“The truth is that what we are going through in Nigeria today is systemic corruption. It is systemic because there’s no deterrence. In a nation where corruption is not deterred, when you want to fight it, you are at a risk.
“The civil servants are now colluding with the politicians to extort Nigeria and to manipulate the process for their benefits. So, the issue now is that you see how corruption is working on two legs.
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“Quite painful is even the ones that are charged and convicted down to the Supreme Court, you will see politicians, like president Bola Tinubu just did. Pardoning some corrupt people that even the Supreme Court has declared corrupt and jailed.
“When you pardon such people, you are sending a message to people that there is no need to stick their neck against such people because such people will come back to the system as elected and they will begin to take their pound of flesh on the people that genuinely fought and that they are jailed.
“So, I see the presidential pardon as an act of incompetence,” he said.