Maryam Sanda, the woman who was convicted for killing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello has granted presidential pardon after spending more than six years in prison.
Maryam Sanda was convicted for stabbing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, son of former People’s Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, Haliru Bello, to death during a heated argument at their home in Maitama, Abuja, on Sunday, November 19, 2017. The case drew national attention as images of the couple circulated online.
Maryam Sanda case
Maryam Sanda was the daughter-in-law of a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr Mohammed Bello Haliru.
She was tried before the FCT High Court in Maitama for allegedly killing her husband, Bello, who was a nephew of former PDP chairman, Alhaji Bello Halliru Muhammad, in 2017.
She was docked alongside her brother, Aliyu Sanda; her mother, Maimuna Aliyu and her housemaid, Sadiya Aminu, who were charged with assisting her to conceal the evidence by cleaning the blood of the deceased from the scene of the crime.
However, the court upheld the submission filed by the three other defendants and discharged and acquitted them of the offence levelled against them by the police.
At the resumed hearing of the case in 2020, Sanda, who was testifying in her own defence, told the court amidst tears that though they had their differences in the course of their two-year marriage, but she claimed that she did not kill her husband.
She had once revealed to the the court that on November 18, 2017, she used her late husband’s phone to make a call, adding that when she discovered a nude picture of a lady on the phone, she went downstairs and called the deceased so that they could talk about it.
She stated that in the course of discussion which degenerated into an argument, she asked the deceased to divorce her, adding that the late Bilyaminu held her neck, which got her choking.
The argument continued late into the evening and that around 11pm, she went to take her charger in the living room.
she narrated how his deceased husband pushed her and fell down, adding that she mistakenly broke his husband shisha bottle which later lead to altercation between both of them.
“He pushed me and as I was falling down, I mistakenly broke his Shisha bottle and the water inside spilled on the floor.“
He pinned me to the ground and I heard our daughter crying.
I told him to leave me so that I could attend to her and he loosened up a bit and I struggled to my feet,” she said.
She stated that while trying to hold her, the deceased fell down and that she saw her husband holding his chest and saw a broken bottle in his chest which she removed and covered the chest with her scarf.
She said she rushed out to call for help and met one Ayuba with whom she took her husband to Abuja Clinic, where the late Bilyaminu was confirmed dead.
Adding that he was later taken to Maitama General Hospital where he was also confirmed dead.
From the hospital, she said she was taken to Maitama police station where she wrote her statement.She said the evidence of two of the prosecution witnesses that she threatened to kill her husband was false.
“I did not try to kill my husband. We had an argument; that was all. I never wished my husband to die,” Sanda told the court.
Under cross-examination by the prosecuting counsel, Sanda told the court that she did not break the shisha bottle in anger.
She stated that as of the time she drove her husband to the hospital, the broken bottle she removed from his chest and the spilled water from the shisha bottle was on the floor of their living room.
Following the evidence of Sanda, her counsel, Rita Okotie Eboh, informed the court that they were closing their case.
The trial judge, Justice Yusuf Halilu, subsequently adjourned the case to November 25 for adoption of final written addresses.
Maryam Sanda was sentenced to death by hanging
After a series of trials on Maryam Sanda Murder case, An Abuja High Court sitting at Maitama, convicted and sentenced Maryam Sanda to death by hanging.
Maryam Sanda was found guilty of stabbing her husband, Bilyamin Bello, who was a real estate developer, to death in 2017.
Justice Yusuf Halilu held that circumstantial evidence before the court, as well as Maryam’s testimony during the trial and her statement before the police, established that she fatally stabbed her husband to death in Abuja on November 19, 2017.
The court ordered that the convict Maryam Sanda should remain at the Correctional Center in Suleja till she exhausts her right of appeal.
In the charge marked CR/15/17, which Police filed pursuant to section 109(d) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, Maryam was accused of stabbing her husband to death with a broken bottle, at their Abuja residence.
The prosecution told the court that Bilyamin died as a result of several stabs on his chest and neck.
Police maintained that the defendant attacked her husband with the knowledge that her act was likely to cause his death.
Maryam Sanda was equally charged with the offence of “causing grievous hurt”, contrary to section 247 of the Penal Code Law.
Though her mother, Maimuna Aliyu, her brother, Aliyu Sanda and one Sadiya Aminu, were initially charged as a co-defendant in the matter, they were discharged by the court which held that they had no case to answer with respect to the murder charge.
The prosecution had alleged that Maryam’s family members attempted to destroy evidence that linked her to the murder.
It alleged that upon realising that an offence of culpable homicide was committed, the other defendants, “did cause evidence of the offence to disappear”.
It said the other defendants had carefully cleaned the blood from the scene of the crime with the intention of screening the 1st defendant, Maryam from legal punishment.
According to the prosecution, the three persons involved in the scrubbing-off of murdered Bilyamin’s blood, by their action, committed an offence punishable under section 167 of the Penal Code Law.
The court however held that Police failed to way of credible evidence, establish a prima-facie case against Maryam’s family members.
Meanwhile, Maryam Sanda who is a mother of two, and her family members could not contain their tears after the court found her guilty as charged.
Her mother wept uncontrollably as she sped out of the court from where she sat at the back row.
Likewise, the convict who broke down in the dock attempted to run out of the courtroom but was blocked and brought back by security operatives.
Following the mild commotion, her lawyer tried to persuade the court to temper justice with mercy by giving her a mild sentence.
After Justice Halilu stood down the matter for a while to allow normalcy to be restored in the courtroom, he returned and sentenced the defendant to death by hanging, in line with section 221 of the Penal Code which he said does not allow for a plea of allocutus (Mercy).
While passing his Judgement, Justice Halilu held:
“It has been said that thou shall not kill. Whoever kills in cold blood shall die in cold blood”.
“Maryam Sanda should reap what she has sown,” the Judge added, stressing that, “it is blood for blood”.
He found the defendant guilty on the two-count culpable homicide charge the Nigerian Police Force entered against her.
The judge held that the prosecution proved that the defendant killed her husband by stabbing him and tried to conceal her action by claiming he fell on a broken bottle.
Justice Haliru said it was obvious from the totality of the evidence before the court that disagreement broke out between the defendant and her husband after she saw a nude picture of a female in her husband’s phone when she wanted to use it.
Police closed its case against the defendants after it produced a total of six witnesses that testified before the court.
Her lawyer, Regina Okotie-Eboh, had insisted that Police failed to prove the murder charge against her client.
She contended that the neither called nurses nor doctors from the hospital where the deceased was taken to testify before the court.
Besides, the defence lawyer faulted the prosecution over its failure to adduce some vital evidence, including the knife the defendant allegedly used to commit the murder.
Maryam Sanda, convicted for killing husband, granted presidential pardon.
Recently, President Tinubu Announced presidential pardon to some individuals, which Maryam Sanda is included.
The presidential pardon list, released on Saturday, is divided into six categories: pardoned individuals, posthumous pardons (including the Ogoni Nine), victims of the Ogoni Nine honoured, clemency beneficiaries, inmates recommended for reduced terms, and inmates on death row whose sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.
In a statement released on Saturday by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency said,
“Her family pleaded for her release, arguing that it was in the best interest of her two children.
The plea was also anchored on her good conduct in jail, her remorse, and her embracement of a new lifestyle, demonstrating her commitment to being a model prisoner.
”The pardon is part of a larger decision by President Tinubu to grant clemency to 175 Nigerians and foreigners, including notable figures such as the late environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, Major General Mamman Vatsa, and other members of the “Ogoni Nine.”
“This marked one of the most expansive uses of the presidential prerogative of mercy, touching on high-profile historical cases,” the statement added.
The presidency noted that the decision followed recommendations from the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, chaired by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
Maryam Sanda’s case first gained public attention when Justice Yusuf Halilu of the FCT High Court in Abuja convicted and sentenced her to death by hanging on January 27, 2020, ruling that she had fatally stabbed her husband at their home.
“She should reap what she has sown, for it has been said that ‘thou shall not kill’ and whoever kills in cold blood deserves death as his own reward,” Justice Halilu declared at the time.
Following her conviction, Sanda’s legal team filed an appeal on 20 grounds, questioning the evidence and alleging bias, but the Court of Appeal dismissed her appeal on December 3, 2020, affirming the conviction and death sentence.
“The circumstances surrounding the death can be the best proof of what is being alleged,” noted Justice Stephen Adah, reinforcing the lower court’s findings.
Police authorities later sought to have the Supreme Court uphold the sentence.
Police counsel James Idachaba said, “We are satisfied with the findings of the trial and appeals court, and we are prepared to defend the law’s position at the Supreme Court,” highlighting the commitment to justice in the case.
However Nigerians are furious taking to the social media page to pour out their anger
While people are furious regarding this case, they are also adding that this action by the Government can be described as justice betrayed, as this will encourage domestic violence and other criminal acts.
Also, the decision has stirred mixed reactions across social media. Many Nigerians took to X (formerly Twitter) to express outrage and disbelief.
@arojinle1 wrote,
“Yorùbá is just all round. I saw the Maryam Sanda news and just one Yorùbá statement came to mind. ‘The one who dies is the ultimate loser. Don’t let them kill you o.’”
@jollz added,
“That Maryam Sanda pardon really drives home when Nigerians say ‘na who die, lose’. Kai.”
@basquiatshow said, “They say it’s for the kids, but a case of premeditated murder should never have been considered for pardon. The Lateef Fagbemi and @NGRPresident missed on this one. It’s pure injustice.”
@HiikyaaTor tweeted, “Mr Sunday Jackson is sentenced to death for defending himself, yet Maryam Sanda, who stabbed her husband multiple times, gets clemency. What a country!”
@Wasppaping_ summed it up: “Maryam Sanda has been pardoned by President Tinubu. In this country, please don’t let anyone kill you. They will walk free.”
