The Supreme Court on Friday set aside the Federal Government’s attempt to reduce the punishment handed to Maryam Sanda, reaffirming the death sentence earlier issued for the murder of her husband, Bilyamin Bello.
Sanda, the daughter-in-law of a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was originally condemned to death on January 27, 2020, by an Abuja High Court after she was found guilty of fatally stabbing her spouse at their Abuja home in 2017.
Despite spending approximately six years and eight months in the Suleja Correctional Centre, President Bola Tinubu had exercised executive discretion to commute her punishment to a 12-year jail term.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), defended her inclusion in the recent presidential pardon list, citing “compassionate ground and in the best interest of the children,” and highlighting her “good conduct, embraced new lifestyle, model to prisoners and remorsefulness.”
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However, a five-man bench of the Supreme Court, in a 4–1 majority judgment, overturned that reprieve. The apex court reaffirmed the capital punishment, ruling against every argument Sanda advanced in her bid to quash her conviction.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Moore Adumein declared that the prosecution had proven the case “beyond every reasonable doubt,” and held that the Court of Appeal was right to have upheld the trial court’s ruling.
The justices further ruled that the President, as leader of the executive branch, acted improperly by attempting to grant clemency in a homicide case that was still undergoing judicial review.
