President Bola Tinubu has granted a state pardon to Maryam Sanda, who was convicted for the murder of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, son of former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, Haliru Bello.
Sanda, who was arrested in November 2017 and sentenced to death by the Federal High Court in Abuja in January 2020, had spent over five years in prison awaiting execution.
Her name was among several others granted clemency by President Tinubu, as announced by Presidential Spokesperson Bayo Onanuga in a statement issued on Saturday evening.
“Illegal miners, white-collar convicts, remorseful drug offenders, foreigners, Major General Mamman Vatsa, Major Akubo, Professor Magaji Garba, capital offenders such as Maryam Sanda, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and the other Ogoni Eight were among the 175 convicts and former convicts who received President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s mercy,” Onanuga said.
He explained that the President’s decision was based on reports indicating that many of the convicts had shown genuine remorse and good conduct during incarceration.
“Some were pardoned due to old age, acquisition of new vocational skills, or enrolment in the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN),” Onanuga added.
He also noted that President Tinubu’s gesture extended to correcting historical injustices, including a posthumous pardon for Sir Herbert Macaulay, one of Nigeria’s foremost nationalists
