The family of the late Bilyaminu Bello, on Monday, condemned the presidential pardon granted to his wife, Maryam Sanda, who was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering her husband, describing it as “the worst possible injustice any family could be made to go through.”

Bello Muhammed, in a statement released on behalf of the family, said President Bola Tinubu’s decision to pardon Ms Sanda had reopened their healing wounds.

“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,” the statement said. “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.”

In 2017, Ms Sanda, a mother of two, stabbed Mr Bello to death with a broken groundnut bottle for alleged infidelity.

Mr Tinubu recently pardoned Ms Sanda alongside 174 other inmates serving various jail terms across the country, drawing widespread criticism from Nigerians.

While noting that Ms Sanda had shown “no remorse even for a fleeting moment throughout the saga,” the deceased’s family recalled the December 4, 2020, court judgement, which they said had given them some closure after justice was served.

“Satisfied that justice had finally been served, the judgement provided some closure of sorts in the circumstance, if ever there could be one. Although the perpetrator had shown no remorse, even for a fleeting moment throughout the saga, the grieving family took solace in the judgments and moved on, having painfully come to terms with the fate that life had thrust upon one of our own,” the statement explained.

The family further faulted the grounds for Mr Tinubu’s decision, stating that the pardon disregarded the feelings of the deceased’s loved ones and reduced him to a mere statistic.

It stated, “It conveniently ignored the corresponding inexorable pain that has now been inflicted on the victim’s grieving family, friends, and associates. We are 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.”

The family said they were deeply hurt by the pardon extended to Ms Sanda, adding that they take solace in the simple fact that, in such matters, the ultimate comprehensive justice resides purely with the “Supreme Judge and Creator who has the power to dispense this matter on the Day of Recompense.”