Maryam Sanda, the wife who allegedly murdered her husband Bilyaminu Bello and was only recently released on bail on health grounds is again in the news. Reports surfaced that the mum of one, who is standing trial for the murder of her husband, threw a lavish birthday party for their daughter, a report Maryam’s family has come out to deny. Via a statement mailed to Vanguard on Monday, Aisha Sanda who spoke on behalf of the family, debunked claims Maryam threw a party for her kid. “Due to recent events regarding the celebration of an innocent child’s first birthday, we her maternal family have decided to speak out because of what we consider a calculated and malicious effort by certain quarters to ruin the happiness of an innocent child just to destroy her mother”, she said. 
“Let us start by saying that the pictures shared on social media of Maryam Sanda and her beautiful daughter Aleesha which were claimed to have been taken on Aleesha’s birthday is false. Just by mere comparison of recent and old pictures of the little girl, it will become apparent that Aleesha was a lot younger at the time when the picture was taken. (For the purpose of clarity, the picture in question was taken on the 8th of July, 2017 when Aleesha was only 5 months old as it is our family tradition to take her pictures every month). We have attached the photos showing dates from the studio with a time stamp. On the 8th of March, 2018, Aleesha turned 1, and her maternal grandmother (our mom) considered it necessary and in the best interest of the innocent child to organize a photo-shoot for her (especially as Aleesha had not had her traditional monthly photo-shoot ever since the incident that befell her family). This photo-shoot happened while her mother was on bed rest and only as to have something to remember her first year in this world, hence, you will not find any picture of Aleesha with anyone (not even her own mother) on that day. “What sort of birthday party could have been organized without children and other party guests? The photo-shoot was an in-house event and the picture was only sent to Aleesha’s paternal Aunt Kilo in Kebbi state. It is, however, strange to us how anybody (especially those who pretend to love and care for Aleesha) would have maliciously misrepresented the story and even sold it to the media with such caption and message. It is unfortunate that none of those media houses (not Vanguard) reached out to us to ask questions before jumping on such wicked misinformation as has been the pattern ever since the death of Aleesha’s father. We understand that everybody wants justice; we too want justice but we will appreciate if the innocent girl is left out of the problems, lies and deceits of adults while her mother goes through the process which has already commenced”. 
Photo credit: Getty
