The family of the late Bilyaminu Bello has spoken in anguished tones against the presidential pardon recently granted to his wife, Maryam Sanda. What was once a case closed in the courts has reopened old wounds, they say.
On Monday, the family through Dr. Bello Mohammed released a statement accusing President Bola Tinubu of trampling on justice. They described Sanda’s pardon as “the worst possible injustice any family could be made to go through.” Her release, they say, treats the murder of Bilyaminu as if it were a minor mistake rather than a calculated crime.
Sanda had been sentenced to death in January 2020 for the premeditated murder of her husband in their Abuja home. The judgment was later upheld by the Court of Appeal and affirmed by the Supreme Court.
The family recalls that the final verdict had brought, if not closure, then some measure of peace after years of pain.
That peace is lost now, they say. The family faults the pardon process, asserting it ignored their suffering and jeopardized the integrity of Nigeria’s judiciary. They accuse the government of caring only to appease Sanda’s relatives, dismissing their grief as if it were insignificant.
They also raised a painful reminder: the children of Bilyaminu have been deprived of a father’s love and the security of a home. While Sanda now walks free, they see only the lingering absence of their father gone, mute.
In closing, they invoked a deeply personal reckoning: “We humanize Bilyaminu,” they said, demanding that he not become another anonymous statistic among the many victims in Nigeria’s ravaged justice system.
They placed their hope not in earthly courts but in a divine sense of justice that, they believe, will one day prevail.
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