Some beneficiaries of Dangote’s N10,000 support to widows, divorcees and elderly women in Sokoto state were allegedly short changed by their community leader.
Our reporter who investigated how the money was disbursed in Shuni, Dange-Shuni local government area of the state, realized that some of the beneficiaries went home with either N3000 or N5000 as against the N10,000 earmarked for each of the 23,000 women drawn from the 23 local government areas of the state.
An elderly woman in Shuni, told Caliphate Trust that she was only given the sum of N3,000 by the wife of Sarkin Gabas, who is the District Head of Dabagin Ardo, Lami.
According to the woman, who is also a widow that trades in Tafasa, “the wife of Sarkin Gabas sent for me that I should come to their house in the morning.
“When I went there, she gave me one very thick card (ATM), bearing my name as a beneficiary and transport fare that I should go to a particular place in a nearby Amanawa town and collect the Dangote’s money, instructing further that I should come back to her with the money.
“On arrival from Amanawa, she collected the whole money out of which, she gave me N3000 and kept the remaining with her,” she said
The woman, who pleaded not to be named for fear of victimization, said this was not her first experience, as she has been doing same to her during Zakkat distribution in a nearby town called Dabagin Ardo.
“She will send me to collect a sack of rice as zakkat beneficiary from which she would give me three measures (Mudu). Even when she sent for me I thought it was the same zakkat I was going to receive out of which she would give me the usual three measures,” she added
Corroborating her allegation, one of the leaders in the community, who also sought for anonymity said the two beneficiaries in his area of responsibility came back with only N5,000 instead of N10,000.
However, there was a case of one widow who got her money complete but a source attributed this to possibly the strong relationship that existed between her deceased husband and the Sarkin Gabas.
When contacted the village head of Shuni, Alhaji Sanusi Muhammad, denied any wrong doing but admitted that there were two women in the area in question who collected half the amount because they were given other people’s cards and the remaining half were handed over to the bonafide owners of the card when they turned up to ask for their entitlement.
According to the village head, he has 20 would be beneficiaries but he was asked to bring 17.
“So I have no option than to share it round so as to forestall trouble,” he added.
He challenged our reporter to produce the complainants, insisting that there is nobody among the beneficiaries who was short-changed.
The Sarkin Gabas, Abubakar Ahmed, however, said he was not in the mood to talk because he was bereaved as he lost one of his daughters.
The chairman of the Sokoto State Zakkat and Endowment Commission, Malam Lawal Maidoki, could not be reached for comment as he was said to be on n official assignment outside the country.
It would be recalled that the Chairman had at a news conference noted that the Sultan promised to deal decisively with any traditional leader found to engage in any wrong doing in connection with the disbursement.
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