The Supreme Court has affirmed the death sentence for Maryam Sanda, convicted of stabbing her husband Bilyaminu Bello to death in 2017, rejecting President Bola Tinubu's recent clemency that reduced her penalty to 12 years imprisonment.
In a 4-1 majority judgment delivered Friday, Justice Moore Adumein ruled the prosecution proved guilt beyond reasonable doubt, upholding the FCT High Court's 2020 conviction and Court of Appeal's affirmation while criticizing the pardon as improper during a pending appeal.
Sanda, who served nearly seven years in Suleja prison, faced public backlash over Tinubu's October pardon alongside drug convicts later partially reversed amid outrage highlighting tensions between executive mercy and judicial finality in Nigeria's justice system.