BREAKING: Convicted Maryam Sanda to die by hanging, Supreme Court overrides Tinubu’s pardon

The Nigerian Supreme Court has ignored the presidential pardon granted to the convicted Maryam Sanda and passed a judgement on Friday, insisting that she should be hanged until she is dead.

The judgement which commenced at the Federal High Court passed through the Court of Appeal and all the Courts were unanimous that Maryam Sanda was found guilty for killing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello in 2017.

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Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday ruling has over turned President Tinubu pardon where he reduced the death sentence to 12 years’ imprisonment on “compassionate grounds” in October 2025, meaning that she should have been released in four years’ time, having spent eight year behind the bar already.

In a four-to-one split decision, the Apex Court threw away Maryam’s appeal, sayng the prosecution proved the case of culpable homicide beyond all reason doubts.

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Justice Moore Adumein, who delivered the lead judgment, held that the Court of Appeal, Abuja, was correct in upholding the initial death sentence handed down by the Federal Capital Territory High Court in 2020.

Crucially, Justice Adumein addressed the legal conundrum created by the Presidential pardon, stating: “It was wrong for the Executive to seek to exercise its power of pardon over a case of culpable homicide, in respect of which an appeal was pending.”

The court resolved all issues raised in her appeal against her, declaring the entire appeal to be without merit.
The judgment effectively nullifies the compassionate reduction of sentence granted by the Federal Government, reinstating the original conviction for the brutal killing of Bilyaminu Bello during a domestic dispute.
Maryam Sanda is expected to return to the status of a convict awaiting execution.

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