Tinubu presidential pardons spark outrage over justice disparity as Maryam Sanda walks free while Lekan Shonde remains on death row
I’m not sure I ever met ex dockworker Lekan Shonde or his late banker wife Ronke, even though their children attended my wife’s school.
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They lived a stone throw from the school in Egbeda at Tiemo Street in the Alimosho local government area of Lagos State.
I became aware of their toxic marriage, which eventually led to Ronke’s death by domestic violence only after the fact.
According to those who knew them well, Lekan was an extremely jealous man; being much older than his wife, he had severally manifested his insecurities by battering her regularly.
Ronke, who had been advised by family, friends, and concerned neighbours to exit the marriage, always sighted the care of her children as the reason for sticking it out.
On the night of May 5, 2016, Lekan Shonde killed his wife in the course of yet another domestic quarrel over alleged infidelity on the part of Ronke, 36.
Her body was discovered the following day by the cleaning woman along with her two children, whom he had locked up in the apartment with their mother’s corpse.
He had fled and remained at large for several days, within which the Lagos state police command launched an intense manhunt.
He was eventually apprehended and made to face a murder charge.
The Lagos state ministry of Justice prosecuted the case.
In his defence in court upon arraignment on october 24, 2017, Lekan claimed to have overheard Ronke discussing a love escapade with her colleague, whom he claimed was also her lover.
He was provoked, he confronted her, gave her a few dirty slaps, and then left home to cool off.
He suggested that the shame of discovery must have prompted her to commit suicide after he left home.
If that was the case, how come he never came back to the house until he was apprehended days later by the police?
In any case, the prosecution team proved beyond reasonable doubt that Ronke was killed from head trauma, which she couldn’t have inflicted upon herself.
In sentencing Lekan, justice Oyefeso held that “the defendant in the case was very economical with the truth when he stated that he slapped her when he overheard his wife on the phone call praising the serial prowess of a lover. This does not match the degree of injury from the autopsy report. In the light of the overwhelming evidence against the defendant, the court is satisfied that the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. The act was intentionally done. I found the defendant guilty. ”
After alocutus bordering on the fate of the two innocent children of the marriage, Lekan was sentenced to death by hanging.
He has been on death row since.
In January 2020, Maryam Sanda was found guilty of culpable homicide and sentenced to death by hanging by the Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Abuja for stabbing her husband, Biliyaminu Bello to death.
Justice Yusuf Halilu held that Ms. Sanda fatally stabbed her husband with a kitchen knife, saying the prosecution had proven its case without any reasonable doubt.
The victim, Biliyaminu, was the son of former national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, Haliru Bello.
During the hearings, witnesses narrated how maryam had allegedly attempted to stab her husband multiple times in the past whenever they had domestic issues.
She argued, though, through her lawyers, that the killing was not premeditated but a result of sevaral quarrels occasioned by suspected infidelity on the part of Biliyaminu.
The marriage also produced two young children before the fatal incident.
The children were also cited in the alocutus and plea for clemency.
Both crimes were crimes of passion similar in all material facts.
Both crimes were duly prosecuted by properly constituted courts of competent jurisdiction with the defendents duly represented.
Both crimes returned similar verdicts with justice believed to have been served.
So, how come Sanda is now set to walk free after 6 years while Shonde continues to languish on death row after 9 years with no hope of a commutation to talk less of freedom?
The difference one can safely conclude lies in the pedigree of the two convicted felons.
While one hails from the highly connected family circles of the North, the other is the son of a nobody from the South.
Some have even suggested political motives for this particular pardon that has now become the poster child for this round of presidential pardons filled with drug traffickers, kidnappers, and illegal miners.
Lady Justice must be squirming as she’s shorn of her blindfold.
The blindfold that represents the impartiality and objectivity of the law.
The blindfold that doesn’t let outside factors such as politics, wealth, or fame influence its decisions.
That blindfold has now been brutally ripped off by Mr. president in exercise of selective prerogative of mercy.
The implications of this action on morality and the administration of justice are highlighted by no less a personality than the President’s own spokesman in the south-east, Dr. Joseph Onoh, who has called on the president to reverse the pardons.
Onoh described the decision as “morally wrong and a rape of justice,” arguing that it could damage the administrations international image and undermine the country’s justice system.
He further notes that “while constitutionally permissible, this act contravenes the moral imperatives of retributive justice and restorative equity. It inflicts psychological trauma on victims’ families, perpetuates systemic injustice, and erodes the deterrence mechanisms essential for societal stability.”
He maintains that pardoning Sanda, who caused “irreversible loss to the Bello family through an act of lethal violence, undermines the value of human life and accountability.”
Onoh further argued that extending clemency to convicted drug traffickers sends a dangerous signal to society.
“Absolving drug dealers like Chibueze, whose trafficking perpetuates cycles of addiction, community devastation and organised crime, normalises predation on society’s most fragile members-particularly the youth.”
To be fair, Tinubu isn’t the first Nigerian president to commit a faux pas in the name of presidential pardons.
Goodluck Jonathan pardoned late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, his known political benefactor, with whom he served as Deputy Governor of Bayelsa state.
Alamieyeseigha was convicted of corruption and money laundering and served jail term.
In the US, former president Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden on the eve of his departure from office.
Hunter was facing sentencing for two criminal cases.
Hunter had pleaded guilty to tax charges and was also found guilty of being an illegal drug user in possession of a gun.
Often, Presidents use presidential pardons to set policy agendas for their administrations.
Such might be the case of Donald Trump’s pardon of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio who was convicted of contempt of court in July 2017 for defying a judge’s order to stop racially profiling Latinos.
Trump said Arpaio was “convicted for doing his job” and that Arpaio’s life and career “exemplify selfless public service.”
Not surprising, coming from a president who ran and won on immigration, twice.
It is therefore of concern the agenda that this round of presidential pardons in Nigeria seems to be setting for the Tinubu administration.
A few days ago, I wrote on the failure of institutions in Nigeria and the citizens disposition towards self-help that it occasions.
When the presidential pardons undermine the justice system and tamper with the principle of equality before the law, what hope is there for the common man?
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What hope is there for the nation?
