Abuja, October 29, 2025 — President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed new Instruments of Clemency and Pardon under the Presidential Prerogative of Mercy, effectively reducing the sentences of several inmates, including Maryam Sanda, whose death sentence for killing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, has been commuted to 12 years imprisonment.
The updated list, contained in S.I. No. 79 of 2025 and made in Abuja on October 21, 2025, confirms that Maryam Sanda was granted a reduction of sentence on compassionate grounds. According to the document, her sentence was reviewed “based on compassionate grounds, the best interest of her children, and her good conduct as a model prisoner.”
This clarification follows a State House press release issued earlier by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, announcing that President Tinubu had executed the relevant instruments of release to complete the constitutional process of mercy. The statement also revealed that the President ordered the relocation of the Secretariat of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Prerogative of Mercy from the Ministry of Special Duties to the Federal Ministry of Justice to ensure better coordination and public trust in future reviews.
The President’s decision came after consultations with the Council of State and in response to public feedback on the initial list of beneficiaries. Some individuals convicted of serious crimes such as kidnapping, human trafficking, drug offences, and arms dealing were removed from the earlier list, while others had their sentences commuted or reduced.
With this updated action, Maryam Sanda, who had been on death row since 2020 following her conviction for culpable homicide, will now serve a total of 12 years imprisonment instead of facing execution.
The Instrument of Presidential Prerogative of Mercy (Reduced Terms of Imprisonment and Sentence), 2025, signed by President Tinubu, took effect on October 21, 2025, marking another step in the administration’s ongoing judicial reform and human rights review process.
