KEY POINTS

• Supreme Court reinstates the Maryam Sanda death sentence.
• Apex court says prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
• Justices fault presidential clemency while appeal was pending.

The Supreme Court on Friday reinstated the death sentence imposed on Maryam Sanda, rejecting her attempt to overturn her conviction for killing her husband, Bilyamin Bello, in their Abuja home in 2017.

The ruling resets a case that had drawn national scrutiny, particularly after President Bola Tinubu recently commuted her punishment to 12 years in prison.

Court rejects appeal over Maryam Sanda death sentence

A five-member panel of the apex court, in a split 4–1 decision, concluded that the trial and appellate courts acted correctly when they upheld the original death sentence delivered by an Abuja High Court on January 27, 2020. Sanda, who had spent six years and eight months in detention, had argued that the evidence was insufficient to justify a capital conviction.

Justice Moore Adumein, delivering the lead judgment, held that prosecutors proved the charge of culpable homicide beyond reasonable doubt, making the initial verdict “unassailable.” The court dismissed her appeal in its entirety.

Tinubu clemency faces judicial pushback

The decision also triggered a rare rebuke of presidential authority. The Supreme Court ruled it was improper for President Tinubu to extend clemency while Sanda’s appeal remained active, saying such intervention disrupted the integrity of ongoing judicial proceedings.

Tinubu’s pardon, announced earlier by Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi, had been framed as an act of compassion based on Sanda’s conduct in prison and the welfare of her children. But the court’s decision basically cancels out such leniency by giving her back her original punishment of death by hanging.

The verdict in the Maryam Sanda death sentence case makes it clear that the courts believe that executive mercy cannot overcome an unresolved criminal appeal. It also spells out the conditions a person must meet to challenge a homicide conviction in Nigeria.