“I requested Maryam Sanda’s release”- Bilyaminu Bello’s biological father claims
Family calls him absent father
The drama over the presidential pardon of Maryam Sanda, the lady who killed her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, continues as the biological father of the victim has stepped out to claim that he wrote to the Federal Government to request the pardon.
Isa Bello, in a joint press conference with Maryam Sanda’s father, Alhaji Garba Sanda, said he had forgiven his daughter-in-law for taking the life of his son.
He disclosed that he had previously written to the then Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), and the Commissioner of Police, FCT Command, in 2019, asking for mercy for Maryam.
Isa disclosed that he wanted the prosecution of Maryam to be halted, and he swore an affidavit at the FCT High Court on June 21, 2019, for this purpose.
When his efforts failed, and Maryam was sentenced to death, he wrote another letter to on December 16, 2024, entitled “Request for Exercise of Prerogative of Mercy for My Daughter-in-Law, Maryam Sanda Sentenced to Death by Hanging,”
In the letter, he acknowledged that there was nothing more painful than losing a son in the way he lost Bilyaminu.
However, he said he derived joy from the fact that his son left behind two beautiful children, Sa’adatu Bilyaminu and Bilyaminu Bilyaminu, named after his father.
Isa said he had forgiven Maryam and did not want her killed to avoid a situation where his grandchildren, who had lost their father, would also lose their mother.
He said he had accepted what happened to his son as the will of Almighty Allah, and as such, he did not hold Maryam responsible.
The father of the pardoned convict, Alhaji Garba Sanda, thanked Alhaji Isa Bello and his entire family for their rare act of compassion, describing it as “a true reflection of faith and forgiveness.
He said words were not enough to express his appreciation to the Bello family for their magnanimity.
“We continue to pray that something positive may yet emerge from this regrettable tragedy, that our families may heal, and that these children will grow up knowing love from both sides of their family,” he said.
Meanwhile, some members of the Bello family were apparently not happy with Isa’s role in the saga.
In a statement flying around on social media, they claimed that Isa was an absent father to Bilyaminu, stating that this was why Bilyaminu was adopted by his uncle, former Communications and Defence Minister and former PDP National Chairman Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed.
They recounted that Alhaji Isa, is a retired storekeeper at the Women Teachers College, Bodinga in the old Sokoto State. He reportedly met and married Bilyaminu’s mother was a student at the school in 1980.
Bilyaminu’s mother reportedly went to her parents’ house to deliver him in 1981, as is the tradition in Hausaland. She, however, died shortly after.
Isa reportedly visited his in-laws to console them over the loss and allegedly never turned up again since then.
The family claimed Bilyaminu was raised by his grandmother and then adopted by Dr. Mohammed.
The family claimed Isa never featured in Bilyaminu’s life since then. They lamented that it was curious that he showed up 44 years after Bilyaminu’s birth and 8 years after he died to play the role of a father.
Also Read: Family of slain husband kicks against Tinubu’s pardon of Maryam Sanda
