Tinubu’s pardon of drug traffickers, Maryam Sanda causes uproar

Kingston Magare 13.10.2025
President Bola Tinubu’s decision to pardon husband killer Maryam Sanda and a good number of convicted drug traffickers is not sitting well with a section of Nigerians.
Last weekend the President reeled out the names of convicted 157 persons who were pardoned on the recommendations by the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, chaired by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
Some of the pardon recipients including Maryam Sanda who was sentenced to death for killing her husband and a good number of drug traffickers raised questions.
Human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong who was speaking Monday on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Monday, argued that pardons raised moral and legal questions.
“My perception is that this pardon the President has issued is basically going to embolden criminality in the country,” Effiong said.
“I find it rather curious that the President, for reasons best known to him and the presidential committee, has decided to issue pardons to individuals that we don’t think merit it.
“What now becomes of the years of work and effort the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has put into the arrest and prosecution of these individuals? What message does that send to other drug traffickers who are undermining the security of the country?”
Effiong also questioned the inclusion of Maryam Sanda, who was convicted in 2020 for killing her husband.
“Here is a woman who gruesomely murdered her husband in 2017, stabbed him multiple times, and now we are told to forgive her in the interest of the children and because she has allegedly shown remorse. What becomes of the family of the husband she murdered?” he asked.
Also the African Democratic Congress presidential hopeful Atiku Abubakar said the pardons were a pathetic and disgraceful.
“The African Democratic Congress (ADC) finds as pathetic and an act of immense national disgrace the recent presidential pardon and clemency granted to several convicted criminals by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“It amounts to a most irre­sponsible abuse of the presi­dential power of prerogative of mercy to grant express pardon to dozens of convicts held for drug trafficking, smuggling, and related offences, especially when most of these convicts have bare­ly served two years in jail for of­fences that carry a penalty of life imprisonment.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Nigeria is still regarded as a ma­jor transit point for illicit drugs while we face a serious national pandemic of drug use, especially among our youths. Several re­ports have it that Nigeria’s drug use stands at an estimated 14.4%, almost three times the global av­erage of 5.5%.
“For years, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (ND­LEA) and other security agencies have risked life and limb to com­bat this problem, dismantle illicit drug networks, intercept consign­ments, prosecute offenders, and secure convictions. The men and women in these agencies have laboured under enormous risk and pressure to protect the pub­lic from the scourge of addiction, trafficking, and related crimes that carry some of the harshest penalties in Nigerian law, pre­cisely because of their devas­tating impact on public health, youth development, and nation­al security.”