The family members and kinsmen of the late Major General Mamman Vatsa in Gulu community, Lapai Local Government Area of Niger State, have appealed to the Federal Government to grant him a posthumous pardon, saying the late general fought for the unity of Nigeria.
This was coming barely 35 years after his arrest, trial and execution for allegedly participating in a military coup against the former military administration of Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
A cousin to the late general and a former minister of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Mr Jonathan Tsado Vatsa, made the appeal at the weekend, in an interactive session with select newsmen, in Minna on behalf of the family and the community.
Jonathan Vatsa, a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in the state, as well as erstwhile State Publicity Secretary of the Niger State chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), however, appealed to all friends and classmates of Mamman Jiya Vatsa to join their voices in the demands for posthumous national pardon for his late uncle.
He explained that the appeal had become imperative against the backdrop of the personal sacrifices made by the late general to keep Nigeria as one indivisible entity in the comity of nations.
Vatsa, who is the spokesperson of the family, said the family intended to set up a foundation in honour of the late Vatsa to cater to widows and orphans.
He said the idea of a foundation could only become viable if the Federal Government granted his late uncle pardon.
He also recalled how the late general sometimes during his life and time returned home with injuries sustained during the Nigerian Civil War just to keep Nigeria united.
Read him: “I want to also call on friends and coursemates of the late Mamman Vatsa to support us in talking to President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter of urgency consider pardoning our late brother and father, General Mamman Vatsa.
“To let you know, due to the trauma, some family members of late General Mamman Vatsa went through hell, his wife died, two of his children including former Head of the Protocols department at the Government House Minna, Haruna Vatsa died.
“We call on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration at the centre to grant him national pardon as was done to late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola and others.
“We have already written a letter to that effect to President Buhari and copied the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Barr. Abubakar Malami( SAN). We have also notified the Emir of Lapai, Alhaji Umaru Bago Tafida (III) for his blessings.”
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