The family of the Late Bilyaminu Ahmed Bello, has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of inflicting on them “inexorable pain” and worst possible injustice following the pardon granted the late Bilyaminu’s widow, Maryam Sanda, who is on death row for conviction for murder.
A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja had on January 27, 2020 convicted and sentenced Maryam Sanda to death, for the murder of her husband. Both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court had in their separate judgments delivered on December 4, 2020, and October 27, 2023 upheld the death sentence on Maryam Sanda.
Maryam Sanda was convicted and sentenced for killing Bilyaminu on November 19, 2017 during a quarrel.
According to Bilyaminu’s family, the verdict of the court “provided some closure of sorts in the circumstance, if ever there could be one”.
The family however, stated that the action of President Tinubu has opened fresh wounds when they were yet to be fully healed of the pain caused by the murder of their son.
Reacting to the pardon granted the widow of their late son, the Bello family described the President’s action as the worst possible injustice any family could be made to go through for a loved one.
“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 Hight Court on January 27, 2020, for the premeditated and cold-blooded murder of her husband and beloved family member of ours, the late Bilyaminu Ahmed Bello”, Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, the Dangaladiman Gwandu, said in a statement issued on behalf of the Late Bilyaminu Ahmed Bello’s Family.
The family disclosed that because of the delicately sensitive nature of the situation involving two innocent children of the deceased victim, they deliberately refrained from making any public statement or comments, despite several sponsored write-ups from the accused perpetrator’s camp containing series of falsehoods against the deceased, without factoring the children’s best interest.
“We, instead, placed our trust and abiding confidence in the nation’s judicial process to run its full course and deliver justice for the deceased victim and his family”, they said.
“This latest turn of events, coming just a few years after the dastardly crime that cruelly cut short Bilyaminu’s life has, however, expectedly reopened our healing wounds.
“To have Maryam Sanda walk the face of the earth again, free from any blemish for her heinous crime as if she had merely squashed an ant, is the worst possible injustice any family could be made to go through for a loved one”, they added.
According to the family, they are, therefore, compelled to issue this formal statement to humanise Bilyaminu, “who is now suddenly being made to appear as if he is just another faceless anonymous individual in the long line of victims of crimes in the country: a mere statistical figure.”
While they claimed that the alleged grounds for Maryam Sanda’s release were predicated on appeals from her family, amongst other considerations, they stressed that Bilyaminu was also their cherished family member who was profoundly loved and deeply mourned by his teeming relations, friends and close associates following the unfortunate incident that resulted in his gruesome murder eight years ago.
“Bilyaminu’s family is deeply hurt by this latest development, which we interpret as primarily driven by the sole motivation for appeasing Maryam’s family members by way of extending mercy to a certified convicted murderer, while at the same time overlooking or conveniently ignoring the corresponding inexorable pain that has now been inflicted on the victim’s teeming grieving family members, friends and associates arising from the action.
“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 this matter on the Day of Recompense where no one can be at liberty to intercede on behalf of anyone else.
“We beseech Almighty Allah SWT to grant the soul of our dear Bilyaminu eternal rest and grant us the fortitude to continue to bear his sad loss even in the light of this latest 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,” the statement added.
The list of the beneficiary of President Tinubu’s pardon, released by Presidential Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, included individuals serving sentences for various crimes — from illegal mining and drug offences to capital offences such as murder.
On the list are illegal miners, white-collar convicts, drug offenders, foreigners, Major General Mamman Vatsa, Major Akubo, Professor Magaji Garba, as well as capital offenders such as Maryam Sanda, Ken Saro Wiwa, and the other Ogoni eight.
The move followed the Council of State’s endorsement of recommendations by the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, chaired by the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
Onanuga said the pardons were based on reports indicating that the convicts had shown remorse and good conduct.
The Presidential pardon has sparked public outrage and renewed debate about the fairness and moral implications of Nigeria’s Prerogative of Mercy process.
