Mrs. Maryam Sanda, who was convicted and sentenced to death in January 2020 for the murder of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, has been granted a Presidential Pardon by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, after serving six years and eight months at the Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre.
The announcement was contained in an official statement issued on Saturday by Mr. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy. According to the statement, the Presidential Clemency was predicated upon the recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, chaired by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.
The Presidency disclosed that Mrs. Sanda’s family had appealed for her release, citing the welfare of her two minor children. The appeal was further supported by reports of her good conduct, genuine remorse, and rehabilitative efforts while in custody, all of which, the statement said, demonstrated her capacity for reintegration into society as a model reformed inmate.
Mrs. Sanda’s pardon forms part of a broader exercise in which President Tinubu extended clemency to 175 Nigerian and foreign nationals, including posthumous pardons granted to the late environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, Major General Mamman Vatsa, and other members of the so-called “Ogoni Nine.” The Presidency described the decision as “one of the most expansive applications of the presidential prerogative of mercy in Nigeria’s recent history.”
Mrs. Sanda was convicted on January 27, 2020, by Hon. Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, who found her guilty of fatally stabbing her husband at their matrimonial residence. In pronouncing sentence, the court held that “whoever kills in cold blood deserves death as his own reward.”
Her conviction was subsequently affirmed by the Court of Appeal on December 3, 2020, in a judgment delivered by Justice Stephen Adah, who dismissed her twenty-ground appeal for lack of merit. The appellate court upheld the trial court’s findings, holding that “the circumstances surrounding the death of the deceased provide the best proof of the offence alleged.”
The Nigeria Police Force had, at the time, urged the Supreme Court to uphold the conviction and sentence, with Police Counsel James Idachaba affirming the Force’s readiness to “defend the law’s position at the apex court.”
According to the Presidency, the 2025 Presidential Pardon List was divided into six categories, including:
Persons granted full pardon;
Posthumous pardons;
Honours conferred on victims of the Ogoni Nine;
Beneficiaries of clemency;
Inmates recommended for reduced sentences; and
Inmates on death row whose sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.#newsafro_
