A magistrate court sitting at Malam Aminu Kano International Airport road in Kano has sent to prison a renown former actress and Hausa film producer, Sayyada Sadiya Haruna, for defamation of character of a fellow actor, Isah A. Isah.
She was denied an option of fine by the court.
Sadiya is a well known blogger on social media where she posts videos of herself advertising aphrodisiacs and beauty products.
She was sued by Isah in 2019 over a video clip that she posted on Instagram in which she called him names after their friendahip soured.
In the video, the former activist cum sex therapist alleged that she and Isah had contracted a temporary marriage called mut’a and that he had had anal sex with her against her wish.
Sadiya also accused the popular actor of being a chronic womaniser and homosexual.
Isah denied all the allegations in his own videos and sued the woman on October 16, 2019, accusing her of defamation of character which was contrary to section 391 of the Penal Code.
When the case came up for hearing, the former actress denied the charges in court. The presiding judge, Muntari Garba Dandago, sent her to prison on remand pending the fulfilment of her bail conditions and postponed the trial.
Sadiya Haruna had earned a reputation for being controversial with her videos in the social media
She was eventually released from detention and the case dragged on for over two years until this Monday when the judge ruled that Sadiya Haruna be sent to prison for six months without the option of fine.
Sadiya had earned a reputation for being controversial with her videos in the social media.
Nigerian Citizen recalls that last August 23 another magistrate court in Kano had sentenced her to enrolment in an Islamic college in the city called Darul Hadith in order to learn good manners for seven months. The after the state Hisbah Board had arrested and taken her to the court over complaints that the video advertisements for her sex enhancement products contained utterances that were considered unsavoury.
It is not clear if she attended the school because her video presentations did not show significant changes since then.
The leading portal on Kannywood news, Fim Magazine, once reported that Sadiya Haruna is a mother of 5 from Gwoza in Borno State.
A Margi by tribe, she relocated to Lagos after she was divorced.
In Lagos, she appeared in a Kannywood movie titled ‘Bakon Lagos’, which was shot in November 2017.
The film was produced by one Nura Bilya ABB, an indigene of Katsina State and owner of ABB Nigeria Limited, a Lagos-based company.
Fim Magazine reported that Sadiya never acted in another film but became a movie producer herself. Her film, titled ‘Soyayyar Facebook’, was shot with many Kannywood actors in early 2018 in Maiduguri, Borno State.
It was reported by the magazine that the film was, however, not released because parts of it were not completed due to disagreements that cropped up between Sadiya and some of the actors.
She accused many of the actors of cheating her while she alleged that some others, including Alhassan Kwalle, the chairman of the Actors Guild in Kano, truncated the filming because she refused to sleep with them.
Subsequently, she released a personal video on Instagram in which she announced her total withdrawal from Kannywood.
However, that did not stop her from openly castigating several Kannywood actors with whom she had disagreements later, such as Aminu Dagash, Teema Makamashi, Misbahu M. Ahmad, Hadizan Saima, Nasiru A. Dorayi, Naja Ta Annabi, Abba Daneji, and Lawal Sa’idu Washasha.
