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By Correspondent in Abuja.
(C) Google/Arise News.
In a landmark judgment with far-reaching constitutional implications, the Supreme Court has nullified President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commutation of the death sentence passed on Maryam Sanda and restored her original punishment,death by hanging,for the 2017 killing of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello.
Our Correspondent recalls that Sanda had been listed among beneficiaries of a recent presidential clemency, which reduced her sentence to 12 years’ imprisonment on what the Presidency described as compassionate grounds.
The decision, published in an official gazette and announced by Presidential Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, cited her good conduct in custody, her transformation into a “model inmate,” and concern for the welfare of her children.
However, in a 4–1 majority judgment, a five-member panel of the apex court held that the President lacked the constitutional authority to grant clemency in a criminal matter that was still subject to judicial review.
The court ruled that executive clemency cannot pre-empt or override the outcome of a pending appeal.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Moore Adumein said the trial court and the Court of Appeal had properly evaluated the evidence presented by the prosecution and arrived at a verdict that could not be faulted.
He affirmed that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that Sanda stabbed her husband to death during a domestic altercation at their Maitama residence in Abuja.
“The decision of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the sentence of the trial court, is unassailable,” the Supreme Court held, dismissing Sanda’s appeal in its entirety.
Sanda was convicted on January 27, 2020, and has spent six years and eight months in custody at the Suleja Correctional Centre.
Her case has continued to attract intense public attention from the trial and appeal stages to the recent controversy sparked by the presidential commutation.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), had earlier defended the clemency, arguing that the President acted within his discretion by considering Sanda’s remorse, emotional state, and good behaviour while in custody.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
