…Says it’s Injustice for Bilyaminu Bello, Murdered by Wife
By Franklin Adole
The family of the late Bilyaminu Mohammed, who was murdered in 2017 by his wife, Maryam Sanda, has condemned President Bola Tinubu’s decision to grant her a presidential pardon, describing it as “an act that has reopened our deepest wounds and inflicted fresh pain.”
The family expressed its outrage in a statement issued on Monday and signed by Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, Dangaladiman Gwandu, titled “When Prerogative of Mercy Inflicts Inexorable Pain.”
President Tinubu, on October 11, 2025, had approved clemency for 175 inmates under the Federal Prerogative of Mercy, including Sanda, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of her husband. The Presidency said her release followed the recommendation of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, which cited her “reformation, remorse, and the need to allow her to reunite with her children.”
While some Nigerians hailed the pardon as an act of compassion, especially for Sanda’s children, others sharply criticised it as a blow to the integrity of Nigeria’s justice system and a setback in the fight against gender-based violence and domestic abuse.
In their statement, the family said: “One name that stood out for us as a family is that of Maryam Sanda, a lady convicted and sentenced to death by the FCT High Court on Monday, 27 January 2020, for the premeditated and cold-blooded murder of her husband and beloved family member of ours, the late Bilyaminu Ahmed Bello.”
They recalled that despite several “false and sponsored narratives” spread by Sanda’s supporters after the 2017 killing, the family chose to stay silent, trusting the courts to deliver justice. “Considering the delicate nature of the situation involving two innocent children of the deceased, the family deliberately refrained from making any public statement since the tragic incident of Sunday, November 19, 2017,” the statement said.
According to the family, the judicial process, from the FCT High Court through the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court, had consistently upheld Sanda’s death sentence, confirming her guilt beyond reasonable doubt. “Satisfied that justice had finally been served, the judgment provided some closure of sorts in the circumstance, if ever there could be one,” they said.
The family lamented that despite showing “no remorse even for a fleeting moment throughout the saga,” Sanda had now been set free “as if she had merely squashed an ant.” The statement continued: “This latest turn of events, coming just a few years after the dastardly crime that cruelly cut short Bilyaminu’s life, has reopened our healing wounds. To have Maryam Sanda walk the face of the earth again, free from any blemish for her heinous crime, is the worst possible injustice any family could be made to go through for a loved one.”
They said they were compelled to speak publicly “to humanise Bilyaminu, who is now being made to appear as just another faceless, anonymous individual: a mere statistic among countless victims of violent crime in Nigeria.”
The family further challenged the justification given for Sanda’s pardon. “The alleged grounds for Maryam’s release were predicated on appeals from her family, among other considerations,” they said. “But it is pertinent to stress that Bilyaminu was also a cherished family member, profoundly loved and deeply mourned by his teeming relations, friends, and associates since his gruesome murder eight years ago.”
They accused those pushing for Sanda’s clemency of exploiting her children’s plight for sympathy. “Maryam, let’s not forget, had earlier on denied the same children now used to elicit sympathy and secure her release, the opportunity to know what a father’s love and care mean,” the family said.
According to them, the presidential pardon was motivated “primarily by the desire to appease Maryam’s family,” while ignoring “the inexorable pain now inflicted on the victim’s grieving relatives, friends, and associates.” The statement added: “We interpret this as mercy extended to a convicted murderer at the expense of justice, fairness, and the memory of a man whose life was violently cut short.”
The family, while expressing deep disappointment in the Tinubu administration’s decision, said their ultimate faith remained in divine justice. “We take solace in the simple fact that in such matters, the ultimate comprehensive justice resides purely with the Supreme Judge and our Creator, who will dispense the matter on the Day of Recompense, where no one can intercede for anyone else.”
Concluding their statement, they prayed for peace and divine protection for Bilyaminu’s children. “We beseech Almighty Allah (SWT) to grant the soul of our dear Bilyaminu eternal rest and give us the fortitude to bear this sad loss even in the light of this painful development. May Allah also be there at every turn of his children’s needs and raise them to be good, obedient Muslims and patriotic Nigerians. Ameen.”
Maryam Sanda was convicted in 2020 after a protracted trial for fatally stabbing her husband during an argument at their Abuja residence in November 2017. Her conviction, upheld by the Appeal Court in 2020 and the Supreme Court in 2023, was widely viewed as a landmark moment in Nigeria’s struggle against domestic violence.
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