Tinubu overruled as Supreme Court restores Maryam Sanda’s death verdict

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Nigeria’s Supreme Court has delivered a landmark ruling on Friday, setting aside President Bola Tinubu’s recent clemency for Maryam Sanda and reaffirming the death sentence originally imposed on her for the murder of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello.

In a split decision of four to one, the apex court held that the President’s exercise of mercy powers was improper because it was granted while her appeal was still pending before the courts.

Sanda was convicted in January 2020 by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja for stabbing her husband to death during a domestic dispute in their home in 2017.

She was sentenced to death by hanging, a decision later upheld by the Court of Appeal.

In October, President Tinubu had included Sanda on a revised clemency list that reduced her sentence to 12 years’ imprisonment on compassionate grounds, citing her good conduct, remorse and the welfare of her children.

However, the Supreme Court ruled that such executive intervention cannot stand when an appeal is still before the judiciary.

Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Moore Adumein affirmed the convictions of the lower courts, stating the prosecution had proved the culpable homicide charge beyond reasonable doubt.

He emphasised that the Court of Appeal’s earlier judgment was entirely sound and that the presidential pardon had overstepped constitutional boundaries.

The ruling effectively reinstates the original death sentence handed down by the trial court, concluding Sanda’s lengthy legal battle.

The judgment is likely to reignite national debate on the scope of executive clemency, judicial independence and the administration of capital punishment in high-profile criminal cases.