THE Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence imposed on Maryam Sanda, despite President Bola Tinubu’s earlier decision to commute her punishment to 12 years imprisonment on compassionate grounds.
News Point Nigeria reports that In a 4–1 split judgment, a five-member panel of the apex court on Thursday reaffirmed the trial court’s verdict that sentenced Sanda to death by hanging for the 2017 killing of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, son of a former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The ruling comes weeks after President Tinubu reversed the presidential pardon previously granted to Sanda, reducing her sentence from death to a 12-year jail term.
The decision was contained in an official gazette released by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, which cited “compassionate grounds,” the well-being of her children, good conduct in prison, and her transformation into a “model inmate.”
However, in its fresh judgment, the Supreme Court dismissed Sanda’s appeal in its entirety, insisting that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Moore Adumein held that both the trial court and the Court of Appeal properly evaluated the evidence before convicting Sanda for culpable homicide.
“The decision of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the sentence of the trial court, is unassailable,” the Supreme Court ruled.
The apex court faulted the President’s intervention, declaring that the executive arm lacked the power to issue a pardon or commute a sentence in a case where an appeal was pending before the courts.
Sanda was convicted on January 27, 2020, by an Abuja High Court after the judge found her guilty of stabbing her husband to death during a domestic dispute at their Maitama residence in 2017. She has been in custody for six years and eight months, serving time at the Suleja Correctional Centre.
Her inclusion in Tinubu’s recent list of pardoned persons attracted significant public attention. The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), defended the decision, stating that her clemency was granted in the interest of her children and in recognition of her “remorsefulness, good behaviour, and model lifestyle” while in prison.
However, with Thursday’s ruling, the Supreme Court has effectively restored her original sentence, deepening uncertainty about the legal weight of the President’s earlier commutation.
