President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has granted a presidential pardon to Kelvin Oniarah Ezigbe, the convicted kidnapper responsible for the 2013 abduction of human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mike Ozekhome.

Gossip News Now reports that Ezigbe was among the 175 inmates granted clemency following the approval of the National Council of State.

According to Presidential aide Bayo Onanuga, Ezigbe’s 20-year prison sentence has been reduced to 13 years in recognition of what the government described as “remorsefulness and commitment to self-reformation through education” while in custody.

“The reduction was granted for showing remorse and for attending the National Open University,” Onanuga said in a statement on Saturday.

Before his 2013 arrest, Ezigbe was one of the most feared kidnappers in the Niger Delta, notorious for terrorising parts of Delta State, particularly the oil-producing Kokori community in Ethiope East Local Government Area.

He masterminded several high-profile abductions, including the kidnapping of Mike Ozekhome and his driver on August 23, 2013, along the Benin–Auchi highway in Edo State. The rescue attempt ended tragically as four police officers were killed in an ambush by his gang.

Ezigbe’s group was also implicated in the 2012 abduction of Professor Hope Eghagha, then Delta State Commissioner for Higher Education, during which his police orderly was murdered. The syndicate was further linked to the killing of two prison officials in Delta State.

Following an extensive manhunt, Ezigbe and five members of his gang were arrested in Port Harcourt in September 2013 by a joint team of soldiers and DSS operatives.

At the time, the self-styled “freedom fighter” had issued an ultimatum demanding the government develop Kokori or face more attacks.

He was later arraigned in June 2024 on charges of terrorism, kidnapping, incitement, and aiding escape. During the trial, Ozekhome testified that he was held captive for three weeks and only released after paying a ₦40 million ransom.

In October 2023, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja convicted Ezigbe and his accomplice, Frank Azuekor, sentencing them to 20 years in prison, backdated to begin from their arrest in 2013.

With the presidential clemency, Ezigbe’s sentence has now been cut to 13 years, meaning he could walk free soon after serving most of his reduced term.