President Bola Tinubu has granted clemency to Maryam Sanda, who was sentenced to death for the murder of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello.
Sanda, who received her death sentence on January 27, 2020, was among 175 individuals, both current and former convicts, who were pardoned on Thursday based on recommendations from the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, led by Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi.
At 37 years old, Sanda had been sentenced to death for culpable homicide and had spent six years and eight months at the Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre.
According to presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, her family had requested her release for the sake of her two children.
“The request was also based on her good behavior in prison, her remorse, and her commitment to a new lifestyle, showing her dedication to being a model inmate,” Onanuga stated.
The incident occurred on November 19, 2017, when Sanda fatally stabbed her husband, the son of former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), National Chairman, Haliru Bello.
In January 2020, Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court found Sanda guilty of murder and sentenced her to death by hanging, concluding that she had stabbed her husband with a kitchen knife with the intent to kill.
Justice Halilu’s decision was based on strong circumstantial evidence and testimonies from six witnesses, including relatives of the convict who cleaned the crime scene, a post-mortem examination of the victim, and inconsistencies in Sanda’s statements.
The judge also applied the “Doctrine of the Last Scene,” which holds that the last person present at a crime scene is fully accountable for the outcome.
“It reinforces the conclusion that the defendant was the last person seen with the deceased and thus bears full responsibility for his death,” Justice Halilu stated in his ruling.
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Sanda’s conviction was upheld when she appealed to the Court of Appeal in Abuja in December 2020, where Justice Steven Adah ruled that her appeal lacked merit.
Sanda contended that her conviction was based solely on circumstantial evidence, arguing that there were no confessions, murder weapon, or at least two witnesses to support the claim that she killed Bilyaminu.
The Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy recommended pardons for two inmates and 15 former convicts, clemency for 82 inmates, and sentence commutations for 65 inmates.
Additionally, seven death row inmates had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment as part of the presidential clemency.
The pardons also included posthumous acknowledgments for notable historical figures such as nationalist Sir Herbert Macaulay and the Ogoni Nine, including Ken Saro Wiwa, which were recognized as historic injustices.
