The family of the late Bilyaminu Ahmed Bello has condemned the recent presidential pardon granted to Maryam Sanda, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the premeditated murder of Bello in 2017.
President Bola Tinubu’s clemency decision, announced on Saturday by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, resulted in the release of Sanda, who had spent nearly seven years in custody at the Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre.
Sanda was sentenced to death in 2020 for killing her husband during a domestic dispute.
Onanuga stated that the pardon followed appeals from Sanda’s family, citing the best interests of her two children. He also noted that her good conduct in custody, “remorse, and embrace of a new lifestyle” were key considerations in granting clemency.
However, the family of the late Bello described the pardon as “the worst possible injustice” they could face.
The family, in a statement signed by Dr Bello Haliru Mohammed, criticised the decision to release Sanda “as if she had merely squashed an ant,” saying it disregards the gravity of the crime and the deep pain inflicted on the victim’s loved ones.
The family said the presidential clemency has reopened “healing wounds” and expressed distress that the pardon appears to have been granted primarily to appease the convict’s family. They also noted that Sanda had previously denied the children contact with their late father.
In their statement, the family recalled how the courts upheld the death sentence:
“The appeals process reaffirmed the FCT High Court’s death sentence through the Federal Court of Appeal and Supreme Court judgements of Friday, 4 December 2020, and Friday, 27 October 2023, respectively. Satisfied that justice had finally been served, the judgement provided some closure of sorts in the circumstances, if ever there could be one.
“Although the perpetrator had shown no remorse even for a fleeting moment throughout the saga, the grieving family took solace in the judgements and moved on, having painfully come to terms with the fate that life had thrust upon one of our own.
“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 our healing wounds. 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 endure for a loved one.
“We are, therefore, compelled to issue this formal statement to humanise Bilyaminu, who is now suddenly being made to appear as if he is just another faceless anonymous individual in the long line of victims of crimes in the country: a mere statistical figure.
“The alleged grounds for Maryam Sanda’s release were predicated on appeals from her family, amongst other considerations. It is pertinent to stress that Bilyaminu was also our cherished family member, profoundly loved and deeply mourned by his teeming relations, friends, and close associates following the unfortunate incident that resulted in his gruesome murder eight years ago. Maryam, let’s not forget, had earlier denied the same children, now used to elicit sympathy and secure her release, the opportunity to know what a father’s love and care means.
“Bilyaminu’s family is deeply hurt by this latest development, which we interpret as primarily driven by the sole motivation of appeasing Maryam’s family members by way of extending mercy to a certified convicted murderer, while at the same time overlooking or conveniently ignoring the corresponding inexorable pain that has now been inflicted on the victim’s teeming grieving family members, friends, and associates arising from the action.”
