Supreme Court Overrules Tinubu, Confirms Death Sentence for Maryam Sanda

Nigeria’s Supreme Court has reinstated the death sentence handed to Maryam Sanda, overturning the Presidential clemency earlier granted by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and bringing a dramatic end to one of the Country’s most widely followed homicide cases.

Sanda, daughter-in-law to a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, had been convicted on January 27, 2020, after the Abuja High Court found her guilty of stabbing her husband, Bilyamin Bello, to death at their Maitama home in 2017. She was sentenced to death by hanging, a ruling upheld by the Court of Appeal.

After spending six years and eight months at the Suleja Correctional Centre, her case gained renewed National attention when President Tinubu issued a pardon reducing her sentence to 12 years’ imprisonment.

FG Justified Clemency
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), had defended the Presidential intervention, describing it as a decision made “on compassionate grounds and in the best interest of the children.” He pointed to Sanda’s good conduct, improved lifestyle and remorse as compelling factors behind the clemency.

Apex Court Delivers Split Verdict
But on Friday, in a 4–1 split judgment, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court dismissed Sanda’s appeal and restored the original death sentence.

The justices held that she failed to establish any error in the concurrent findings of both the trial court and the appellate court, stressing that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

The Apex Court’s decision effectively nullifies President Tinubu’s clemency, ruling that the Executive should not grant a pardon in a homicide case still undergoing judicial review.

With the verdict, Sanda’s death sentence is fully reinstated, marking a decisive conclusion to a case that has gripped national attention for years.