…Insists on husband-killing wife’s death by handing
Nigeria’s Supreme Court on Friday overturned a presidential pardon granted to Maryam Sanda, an Abuja woman convicted of murdering her husband and reinstated the death sentence imposed on her in 2020 after a high-profile domestic violence trial.
Sanda was found guilty by an Abuja High Court for fatally stabbing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, son of former PDP chairman Haliru Bello, during a dispute in their home in November 2017. The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in 2020, ruling that prosecutors had proved the charge of culpable homicide beyond a reasonable doubt.
The trial, which spanned over two years, featured forensic evidence, witness testimonies and police findings. The FCT High Court ruled that the prosecution had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt and sentenced her to death by hanging.
Sanda’s conviction sparked national debate over domestic violence, gender dynamics, and the Nigerian criminal justice system. She appealed to the Court of Appeal and later the Supreme Court, insisting she was innocent and had not been given a fair trial.
In 2024, President Bola Tinubu controversially granted her a pardon, reducing the sentence to 12 years imprisonment. Legal analysts questioned the constitutionality of issuing a pardon while an appeal was still pending.
President Bola Tinubu later commuted her sentence to 12 years’ imprisonment on compassionate grounds, drawing public criticism and legal debate over the scope of executive clemency.
On December 12, 2025, the Supreme Court, in a 4-1 split judgment, overturned the presidential pardon and reinstated the death sentence, ruling that the Executive overstepped its powers by intervening in a case still under judicial consideration.
Justice Moore Adumein, delivering the lead judgment, said the executive could not exercise the power of clemency while an appeal was pending, adding that the evidence supported the trial court’s finding of guilt.
The ruling restores one of the country’s most closely watched murder convictions in recent years.
