A group of 31 business women has dragged a businesswoman, Halima Ibrahim, popularly knowns as Leemah, to Upper Shari’a Court, sitting at Kofar Kudu in Kano state over alleged N500 million fraud.
The case between Ms Ibrahim, as defendant and Habiba Tijjani and 30 others as plaintiffs commenced in September this year.
The plaintiffs claimed to have paid the sum of N500 million jointly to Ms Ibrahim, for order of furniture, kitchen utensils, toys and household items from China but are yet to receive the goods.
They complained that the woman refused to either bring the goods or refund them, prompting them to take the matter to the Shari’a court, presided over by Sarki Yola.
Some of the women who spoke to journalists are Fatima Shehu, Rashida Kardam, Aishatu Abubakar, Aisha Rabi’u, Habiba Tijjani and Hassana Bello from Abuja, Adamawa, Katsina, Gombe and Kaduna respectively.
The women said most of the victims of the fraud reside in the neighbouring states, and had to be traveling to Kano for the court case.
They noted that most of them were taken to police station by their respective customers, others divorced by their husbands, while about five of them lost their lives due to tension and pressure from customers to refund their money.
They noted that the huge amount of the money was paid to the defendant’s bank account in instalment after she advertised the products in her WhatsApp group.
“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.
“Leemah 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 stressed that, Ms Ibrahim had never appeared during the court sitting, which was adjourned many times, lamenting that the case had to be stalled on Thursday due to absence of the defendant’s lawyers and the judge.
They appealed to judge to assist them by accelerating the hearing, saying, “as a judge with proven integrity, we believe that he would get to the root of the matter and do justice to us”.
They also appealed to Kano state governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, and the emir of Kano, Aminu Bayero, to help intervene in getting justice to them.
“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.
