Maryam Sanda: Buhari Didn’t Grant Pardon To Jailed Husband Killer – Presidency

The presidency has refuted reports that Maryam Sanda, who was convicted in January for killing her husband, had been granted presidential pardon by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Reports making the rounds on social media on Thursday had claimed that Sanda was among convicts recently granted pardon by President Buhari.

But the president’s special assistant on new media, Bashir Ahmad, described the reports as fake news.

Bashir quoted the National Correctional Service to have said, “The news making the rounds that Maryam Sanda, a murder convict, was granted presidential pardon is FAKE, very unrealistic and an attempt to rubbish the good intention of President Buhari towards decongesting the custodial centres.”

Sanda had been sentenced to death by hanging after she was found guilty for the murder of her late husband, Bilyaminu Bello.

She was handed the sentence by a Federal Capital Territory High Court on January 27, 2020.

Her late husband was the son of Alhaji Haliru Bello, a former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Rumours of Sanda’s alleged pardon came less than a week after President Buhari granted pardon to about 2,605 inmates as part of efforts to decongest prisons in the country to curb the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19).