A professor of regulation, Sabastine Hon, SAN, has pleaded with President Bola Tinubu to grant whole posthumous pardon to past due former Chief of Army Staff, Col. Joseph Akaahan, in popularity of his sterling contributions to the Nigerian Army and the rustic at huge.

In a letter to the President dated October 17, 2025, Hon who wrote as a concerned citizen of Benue State, chronicled the sterling qualities and army profile of the past due army officer.

Akaahan was Nigeria’s second Chief of Army Staff, after the then Col. Yakubu Gowon.

Attesting to his good military career and the cases of his dying, the legal professional well-known, “Owing to his diligence and excellence in professional military supplier each and every at area and out of the country, Col. Akaahan was appointed the Chief of Army Staff in May, 1967, shortly previous to the outbreak of the Nigerian civil battle.

“In this position, Col. Akaahan was reputed to were centrally instrumental to the exploits of the Col. Benjamin Adekunle “Operation Sea-borne” operations all through the battle, despite the fact that this is not supposed to refresh the collective recollections of our unsightly past.

Hon stated that Akaahan ran into hassle when he flew in a military helicopter from the battle zone to Gboko, Benue State, for a temporary touch with area previous to proceeding to Lagos.

Unfortunately, the legal professional said that all over not up to 20 kilometers after takeoff to Lagos on the night time of August 6, 1967, the military helicopter crashed and Akaahan died in an instant.

The Federal Government, in line with the New York Times of August 7, 1967, officially presented the dying of its then Army Chief.

Hon outlined that the Army govt felt that Akaahan had embarked upon an ‘unauthorised’ pass from side to side to Gboko where he met his untimely dying on the more youthful age of 30 years. He was, because of this, posthumously arraigned and summarily brushed excluding the Nigerian Army.

He regretted that the dismissal has no longer been reversed till date, despite the fact that the an identical Army is still glad together with his services – by way of maintaining a large military facility in his favour.

In popularity of his contributions to the Nigerian Army and the Federation at huge, the Nigerian Army named the Military Cantonment in Makurdi, Benue State, after him. The facility is known till date since the Joe Akaahan Military Cantonment, Makurdi.

“The immediate-past Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Labaja of blessed memory, in 2024, visited the Cantonment and unveiled a Military Hospital thereat,” Hon known.

He prompt President Tinubu to invoke his constitutional powers underneath Chapter 6, Section 157, to extend clemency to the past due army officer as was simply in recent times performed to 175 dwelling and deceased Nigerians.

The past due Col. Joseph Akaahan was born on April 12, 1937 to the Akaahan Agbo Kpile Family of Vandeikya Local Government Area of Benue State. He attended Government College, Keffi, in at the present time’s Nasarawa State, between 1952 and 1956, where he got the Cambridge School Certificate.

He because of this truth professional throughout the officer cadre of the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF) Training School. Teshi, Ghana between 1957 and 1958 and because of this truth, the prestigious Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, United Kingdom, between 1958 and 1960.

Upon a guidance of entirety of the ones military and officer-cadre categories, Akaahan was commissioned as an officer throughout the Nigerian Army on July 23, 1960. Rising all over the ranks, Akaahan was constituted as an officer throughout the Nigerian contingent to the UN Peacekeeping Operations in Congo, in 1966, whereat he performed excellently smartly.

The letter added, “Your Excellency, in a State House publication of October 12, 2025, granted presidential pardon to numerous dwelling and deceased Nigerians, totaling 100 and seventy-five (175).

“On that record are folks convicted as far back as all through the colonial supervision; those convicted even for heinous crimes like coup plots, within riot, murder, and the like. It is indecorous and disrespectful for me to mention the names of the people who’ve fallen underneath the ones categories.

“In view of the fact that Col. Joseph Akaahan’s offence was dereliction of duty (without reference to how categorized by way of the military top command then), I most humbly and responsibly plead that Your Excellency will have to kindly prolong this hand of state forgiveness, which is steeped in segment 175 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, by way of moreover granting whole posthumous pardon to Col. Joseph Akaahan.

“It is even heartwarming that the Hon. Attorney-General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, who doubles since the Chairman of the Presidential Prerogative of Mercy, presented on October 16, 2025, that the record of pardoned 175 Nigerians is still underneath “analysis.” This, then, makes it moderately auspicious and neatly timed for this humble request of mine.

“Your Excellency could be a really perfect deal blessed if he grants this request. Kindly consider the joy Your Excellency will bequeath to the instructed family of the pardoned explicit individual and Benue State at huge, when you occur to elongate your kind gesture to Col. Akaahan.”