The family of the late Major General, Mamman Vatsa has appreciated President Bola Tinubu for granting the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory a posthumous pardon, nearly four decades after his execution.
Recall that the late senior military officer, was executed in 1986 alongside nine others after a secret military tribunal convicted them of plotting a coup against then Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida.
Tinubu had on Thursday, exercised his constitutional prerogative of mercy, with the backing of the Council of State, to pardon 175 persons, including Vatsa and nationalist Herbert Macaulay.
In a statement issued in Minna, Niger State, on Friday, family spokesperson and former state Commissioner for Information, Jonathan Vatsa, described the development as the greatest moment of relief since the general’s death.
The statement reads, “Today is the happiest moment in the life of the family after 39 years of sorrow and sadness following the killing of our late father, brother and uncle. Though nothing can bring him back to life, the family is consoled by this display of statesmanship by our dear president. He has written his name in gold, and history will forever remember him.”
Jonathan said Tinubu’s gesture had “wiped away the tears” of the family, noting that successive governments had ignored repeated appeals for clemency.
Reaffirming the family’s stance on Vatsa’s innocence, he insisted the coup charge was “a frame-up” and the trial “a stage-managed process” designed to eliminate the officer “out of envy and hatred.”
He said, “Justice can never be denied but can only be delayed. The family is convinced that the late Vatsa must be happy in his grave today by this singular act of compassion by President Tinubu. This goes to show that truth doesn’t expire.”
He recalled that the late General Domkat Bali, a member of the military council at the time, had publicly admitted that the evidence against Vatsa was weak and questioned whether execution was justified.
Jonathan noted that while some of Vatsa’s closest relatives, including his wife and a number of his children, were no longer alive to witness the pardon, the surviving children and grandchildren were grateful to be part of the historic moment.
“The family still maintains that the late General Vatsa was innocent of the coup. But we thank President Tinubu for his magnanimity in granting him the state pardon,” he said.
