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The relatives of the late Bilyaminu Bello have condemned the presidential pardon given to his wife, Maryam Sanda, who was found guilty and sentenced to death for his murder, describing the action as “the worst possible injustice any family could endure.”
In a statement released on Monday, October 13, Dr. Bello Mohammed, representing the family, said that President Bola Tinubu’s decision to include Sanda among the 175 inmates recently granted clemency under the Prerogative of Mercy principle had reopened old wounds that were slowly healing.
“To have Maryam Sanda walk the face of the earth again, free from any blemish for her heinous crime as if she had merely squashed an ant, is the worst possible injustice any family could be made to go through for a loved one,” the statement partly read.
The family pointed out that Sanda, who was sentenced by the FCT High Court on January 27, 2020, for the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of her husband, had exhibited “no remorse even for a fleeting moment throughout the incident.”
They recalled that the judgment was upheld by the Court of Appeal on December 4, 2020, and subsequently affirmed by the Supreme Court on October 27, 2023, stating that the family had found some measure of closure following the delivery of justice.
However, this recent development, occurring just a few years after the heinous act that abruptly ended Bilyaminu’s life, has understandably reopened our healing wounds.”
The family conveyed their profound disappointment that, despite the seriousness of the crime and the thorough judicial proceedings, the Nigerian government chose to grant clemency to Sanda, allegedly influenced by “appeals from her family.”
They further accused the government of undermining the judicial process and disregarding the sentiments of the deceased’s loved ones, asserting that the decision has dehumanised their son and reduced him to a mere statistic.
“We interpret this decision as primarily driven by the sole motivation for appeasing Maryam’s family members by way of extending mercy to a certified convicted murderer.
“At the same time, it conveniently ignored the corresponding inexorable pain that has now been inflicted on the victim’s grieving family, friends, and associates,” the family added.
President Bola Tinubu recently approved the release of 175 inmates serving various sentences across the nation under the Prerogative of Mercy policy, which permits the president to grant clemency on humanitarian grounds.
Sanda was among those pardoned, having been convicted in 2020 for fatally stabbing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, at their home in Abuja on November 19, 2017.
