Before his capture, Kelvin had issued a 60-day ultimatum to the Federal Government, threatening to unleash violence if his detained gang members were not released.
A kidnap kingpin and armed robbery mastermind, Kelvin Prosper Oniarah, popularly known as Kelvin Ibruvwe, is one of the people who regained freedom after being granted a presidential pardon under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent amnesty for prisoners, SaharaReporters has learnt.
Oniarah, now 44 years old, was one of Nigeria’s most feared criminals in the early 2010s. He led a vicious kidnapping and robbery gang that terrorised residents across the South-South and parts of the South-East, leaving a bloody trail of abductions, armed attacks, and killings of both civilians and security personnel.
He was arrested on September 25, 2013, by a combined team of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, after years of evading capture. At the time, authorities described his arrest as one of the most significant breakthroughs in Nigeria’s fight against organised crime.
Before his capture, Kelvin had issued a 60-day ultimatum to the Federal Government, threatening to unleash violence if his detained gang members were not released.
Security reports at the time linked him to a series of high-profile kidnappings, including Barrister Mike Ozekhome (SAN), abducted along the Auchi–Benin road on August 24, 2013; a Judge of the Edo State judiciary; a top female official of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); Dr. Chudi Nwike, a former Deputy Governor of Anambra State, who was reportedly murdered while in Kelvin’s custody; and Several NYSC members and security operatives who were abducted and killed during his reign of terror.
Authorities also accused Oniarah of maintaining multiple detention camps across the Niger Delta and Middle Belt, including in Warri and Kokori (Delta State), Ugbokolo (Benue State), Benin City (Edo State), and Aba (Abia State).
Despite the gravity of his crimes, Kelvin is among those released under Tinubu’s controversial presidential pardon, which included many convicted drug traffickers, kidnappers, and violent offenders.
The move has sparked widespread outrage, with civil society groups and political parties describing the amnesty as “a national disgrace” and “an open invitation to anarchy.”
President Tinubu had granted sweeping clemency and posthumous pardons to a total of 147 convicts, inmates, and deceased Nigerians, including Maryam Sanda, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Sir Herbert Macaulay, Major General Mamman Vatsa, Professor Magaji Garba, and dozens of illegal miners, drug convicts, and white-collar offenders.
The gesture, which the Presidency described as a mark of “compassion, justice, and national healing,” was recommended by the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, chaired by Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
The announcement was made during the Council of State meeting on Thursday
According to the State House statement signed by Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga on Saturday, 175 names were originally considered, but 147 ultimately received mercy through pardon, commutation of death sentences to life imprisonment, or sentence reduction.
Among those honoured posthumously were Sir Herbert Macaulay, pardoned for a 1913 conviction imposed by British colonial authorities; Major-General Mamman Jiya Vatsa, executed in 1986 for alleged treason under the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida; and the late Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight members of the Ogoni Nine, executed in 1995 under General Sani Abacha’s dictatorship.
The full list includes Ken Saro Wiwa, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawa, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine.
The federal government also listed the Ogoniland community chiefs Albert Badey, Edward Kobaru, Samuel Orage, and Theophilus Orage, as victims to be officially honoured.
White-Collar Convicts, Drug Offenders, Political Figures
Notably, former lawmaker Hon. Farouk Lawan, ex-University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) Vice Chancellor Professor Magaji Garba, ex-ICPC convict Barr. Hussaini Alhaji Umar and former SUBEB boss Ayinla Saadu Alanamu were among those pardoned or had their sentences reduced.
Leave a Reply