The family of the late Bilyaminu Bello has strongly condemned the presidential pardon granted to his wife and convicted murderer, Maryam Sanda, describing the decision as a painful mockery of justice and “the worst possible injustice any family could be made to go through.”
Sanda, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of her husband at their Abuja residence on November 19, 2017, was among the 175 inmates recently granted clemency by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu under the Prerogative of Mercy policy a constitutional provision that allows the President to pardon or commute sentences on humanitarian grounds.
In a strongly worded statement issued on Monday, October 13, and signed by Dr. Bello Mohammed on behalf of the family, the late Bello’s relatives expressed deep shock and anguish over the presidential gesture, saying it had cruelly reopened wounds they were still struggling to heal from.
“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 family said.
The statement recalled that Sanda showed no remorse throughout her trial and maintained her innocence despite overwhelming evidence that she had stabbed her husband to death in cold blood.
The family emphasized that justice had followed due process, noting that the FCT High Court’s judgment of January 27, 2020, which sentenced Sanda to death, was upheld by both the Court of Appeal on December 4, 2020, and the Supreme Court on October 27, 2023.
“Satisfied that justice had finally been served, the judgment provided some closure of sorts in the circumstance, if ever there could be one,” the statement read. “Although the perpetrator had shown no remorse even for a fleeting moment throughout the saga, the grieving family took solace in the judgments and moved on, having painfully come to terms with the fate that life had thrust upon one of our own.”
Describing the presidential pardon as a betrayal of justice, the family lamented that the Federal Government’s decision had disregarded both the gravity of the crime and the integrity of the painstaking judicial process that followed. “This latest turn of events, coming just a few years after the dastardly crime that cruelly cut short Bilyaminu’s life, has however, expectedly reopened our healing wounds,” the family concluded.
Maryam Sanda’s release has reignited public debate across the country, with many Nigerians questioning the fairness and criteria behind the presidential pardon list especially in cases involving heinous crimes and victims still seeking closure.