The Supreme Court of Nigeria has overturned the presidential pardon granted by President Bola Tinubu to Abuja-based housewife, Maryam Sanda, and reinstated the death sentence earlier passed on her for the killing of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello.
Sanda was sentenced to death by hanging in 2020 by a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja after she was found guilty of culpable homicide arising from a domestic dispute that led to Bello’s death. The judgment was later upheld by the Court of Appeal, Abuja.
President Tinubu had recently commuted Sanda’s death sentence to 12 years’ imprisonment on compassionate grounds. However, in a judgment delivered on Friday, the Supreme Court, in a split decision of four-to-one, affirmed the death sentence imposed by the lower courts.
In its ruling, the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by Sanda, holding that it lacked merit. Justice Moore Adumein, who delivered the lead judgment, stated that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, as required by law.
Justice Adumein held that the Court of Appeal was right to affirm the decision of the trial court and ruled that it was improper for the Executive to exercise its power of pardon in a case of culpable homicide while an appeal was still pending before the courts.
The Supreme Court’s decision effectively restores the death sentence by hanging earlier imposed on Sanda, bringing the legal proceedings in the case to a close.
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