The Supreme Court has overridden the pardon granted by President Bola Tinubu to an Abuja-based housewife, Maryam Sanda, who was in 2020 sentenced to death by hanging for killing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, during a domestic dispute. President Tinubu had reduced Sanda’s sentence to 12 years imprisonment on compassionate grounds in October when the clemency list was amended. The decision followed a review process that initially included 175 names before several were removed due to what the presidency described as the “nature of their crime.”
At the time, Presidential Adviser Bayo Onanuga said the commutation of Sanda’s sentence was “based on compassionate grounds for the best interest of the children and good conduct,” adding that she had shown “remorsefulness.”
But in a judgment on Friday, the Supreme Court, in a split decision of four to one, affirmed the death sentence handed to Sanda by the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which upheld the decision of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sentencing her to death by hanging.
The Apex Court resolved all the issues raised in the appeal she filed against her and dismissed the appeal for being without merit. Justice Moore Adumein held in the lead judgment, which he personally delivered, that the prosecution proved the case beyond reasonable doubt as required, adding that the Court of Appeal was right to have affirmed the judgment of the trial court.
Justice Adumein held that it was wrong for the Executive to seek to exercise its power of pardon over a case of culpable homicide, in respect of which an appeal was pending.
Recall Mr. Tinubu drew public outrage in October for granting pardon to drug barons and Ms. Sanda, who was found guilty and sentenced to death in January 2020 for stabbing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, to death in Abuja eight years ago, in 2017.