Supreme Court Overrides FG’s Pardon For Maryam Sanda, Affirms Death Sentence

The Supreme Court has reaffirmed the death sentence for Maryam Sanda, who was convicted in 2020 for fatally stabbing her husband, Bilyamin Bello, in 2017.

Although she had spent over six years in Suleja prison and was included in President Bola Tinubu’s recent pardon—which reduced her sentence to 12 years on compassionate grounds—the apex court ruled in a 4–1 judgment that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt and that both the trial court and Court of Appeal were correct in their decisions.

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The justices held that the presidential pardon was improper because the case was still under appeal, and they dismissed Sanda’s appeal for lacking merit.