Halima Ibrahim, also known as Leema, a businesswoman, has been brought before an Upper Shari’a Court sitting in Kofar Kudu, Kano State, over an alleged N500 million fraud against 31 market women.
Habiba Tijjani and 30 other people filed the lawsuit in September 2022, asking the Sharia Court Khadi to order Halima Ibrahim to reimburse them for the N500 million she is said to have fraudulently taken from them.
The plaintiffs asserted that they jointly paid Leema the sum of N500 million to order furniture, kitchen utensils, toys, and household items from China, but those items have not yet arrived.
They complained that the woman in question refused to deliver the goods or issue a refund, so they took the issue before the Shari’a court, which is presided over by Ustaz Ibrahim Sarki Yola.
The majority of those affected live in neighboring states and must travel to Kano for the court case, according to some of the women who spoke to Radio Nigeria, including Fatima Abdullahi Shehu, Rashida Kardam, Aishatu Abubakar, Aisha Rabi’u, Habiba Tijjani, and Hassana Bello from Abuja, Adamawa, Katsina, Gombe, and Kaduna, respectively.
They noted that the majority of them were driven to the police station by their respective clients, that the husbands of others divorced them, and that about five of them died as a result of stress and pressure from clients who wanted their money back.
They observed that after Halima promoted the products in her WhatsApp group, a sizable sum of the money was paid to her bank account in installments.
“She later demanded for clearance fee after we placed the order, claiming that uncleared goods would be sold if the fee is not received within a short period.
” Leema had kept pledging to distribute the goods but after some months it became obvious that she defrauded us.
” All efforts to get their money back proved abortive,” they decried.
The women bemoaned the fact that the case had to be postponed on Thursday because the defendant’s attorneys and the judge were not present, emphasizing that Halima Ibrahim had never shown up during the court session, which had been repeatedly postponed.
With the justification that “as a Judge with proven integrity, we believe that he would get to the bottom of the matter and do justice to us,” they pleaded with Sarki Yola to help them by expediting the ruling.
They also pleaded with the emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, and the governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, to step in and assist them in obtaining justice in the ongoing case.
“We also appeal to governor Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje khadimul Islam and Kano emirate council to come to our aid as we are in a difficult situation. Our life is in danger as our customers are threatening some of us. We don’t have peace of mind,” they cried out.
The defense attorneys for the defendant, Aliyu and Yunusa, did not return calls or texts when our reporter tried to reach them.
