The Supreme Court has voided President Bola Tinubu’s pardon to Maryam Sanda and reinstated the death sentence imposed on her for killing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, in 2017.
The apex court, in a split decision of four to one, upheld the earlier judgments of both the Federal Capital Territory High Court and the Court of Appeal, which had affirmed her conviction and sentence.
Sanda was convicted in January 2020 for stabbing her husband to death during a domestic dispute at their Abuja residence.
She had since spent more than six years in custody at the Suleja Correctional Centre before President Tinubu, exercising executive clemency, commuted her sentence to 12 years’ imprisonment on compassionate grounds.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, had defended her inclusion in the pardon list, citing her good conduct, remorsefulness, and the welfare of her children.
However, delivering the lead judgment on Friday, Justice Moore Adumein held that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt and that the Court of Appeal was right to uphold the trial court’s findings.
He noted that the issues raised in Sanda’s appeal lacked merit and that the judicial reasoning behind her conviction remained sound.
Justice Adumein also faulted the presidential pardon, describing it as inappropriate in a case of culpable homicide while an appeal was still pending.
According to him, the executive arm could not validly override a subsisting judicial process or interfere with a conviction undergoing appellate review.
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