Family of the late Bilyaminu Bello has condemned the Presidential Pardon granted to his wife, Maryam Sanda, convicted and sentenced to death for his murder.
They described the move as the worst possible injustice any family could be made to go through.
In a statement on Monday, Dr Bello Mohammed, on behalf of the family, said the decision by President Bola Tinubu to include Sanda among the 175 inmates recently pardoned under the Prerogative of Mercy principle had reopened painful wounds that had barely healed.
According to the family, to have Maryam Sanda walk the face of the earth again, free from any blemish for her heinous crime as if she had merely squashed an ant, is the worst possible injustice any family could be made to go through for a loved one.
The family noted that Sanda, who was convicted by the FCT High Court on January 27, 2020, for the premeditated and cold-blooded murder of her husband, had shown no remorse even for a fleeting moment throughout the saga.
They recalled that the court’s judgment was upheld by the Court of Appeal on December 4, 2020, and later affirmed by the Supreme Court on October 27, 2023, saying the family had found some closure after justice was served.
They explained that this latest turn of events, coming just a few years after the dastardly crime that cruelly cut short Bilyaminu’s life, has, however, expectedly reopened their healing wounds.
The family expressed deep disappointment that, despite the gravity of the crime and the painstaking judicial process, the Federal Government chose to extend clemency to Sanda, allegedly following appeals from her family.
The family further accused the government of undermining the judicial process and disregarding the feelings of the deceased’s loved ones, saying the decision had dehumanised their son and reduced him to a mere statistic.
She was convicted in 2020 after being found guilty of stabbing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, to death at their Abuja home on November 19, 2017.
