Sanda was among the 175 persons who recently received a
presidential pardon following the approval of the national council of state.

Sanda, 37, was sentenced to death for culpable homicide and
had spent six years and eight months at Suleja Medium Security Custodial
Centre.

Among the 175 beneficiaries are Herbert Macaulay, one of
Nigeria’s foremost nationalists; Farouk Lawan, a former member of the house of
representatives; and Mamman Vatsa, a major general and poet executed in 1986
over alleged treason.

Drug offenders, illegal miners, white-collar convicts, and
foreigners are also among recipients of the presidential pardon.

Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on
information and strategy, said in a statement on Saturday that Sanda’s family
pleaded for her release in the best interest of her two children.

“The plea was also anchored on her good conduct in jail, her
remorse, and her embracement of a new lifestyle, demonstrating her commitment
to being a model prisoner,” the president’s aide said.

In November 2017, Sanda was arrested and convicted for
stabbing Bilyamin Mohammed Bello, her husband, to death over alleged
infidelity.

She claimed that the late Bello died after falling on a
broken piece of ‘Shisha’ pot during an argument.

Bello was the nephew of Haliru Mohammed Bello, a former
national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Sanda was arraigned on a two-count charge of culpable
homicide.

In January 2020, a federal capital territory (FCT) high
court found Sanda guilty of killing Bello and sentenced her to death by
hanging.

Yusuf Halilu, the trial judge, held that after putting
Sanda’s testimony alongside that of two witnesses, questioning whether the
shisha pot broke before or after Bello’s death.

The judge said Sanda “woefully failed” to explain the cause
of her husband’s death, going by the doctrine of “last seen”.

In December 2020, the court of appeal in Abuja affirmed the
decision of the trial court and dismissed the appeal of Sanda.