September 01, (THEWILL) – Former Nollywood actress Halima Abubakar seems to have moved beyond her issues with Apostle Johnson Suleman of Omega Fire Ministries International and is embracing what the future holds for her with open arms. There is an indication that she has found succour in philanthropy.
Halima claims to be passionate about children and people living with disabilities in Nigeria and Africa by extension. For this, she has set up a self-named foundation – The Halima Abubakar Foundation Appreciation Outreach. She recently unveiled the foundation with a charity event in Abuja, where she reached out to over 2,000 people with disabilities by donating food items, wheelchairs, crutches and other relief items. Halima noted that over the years, helping people in need was a priority for her.
The Emir of Karomajiji in Abuja, Suleiman Muhammad, who was present at the unveiling, commended Halima’s gesture, describing her as a woman of substance and loved by the people. This was even as he urged more popular figures to emulate her. It is however unclear if the fund for her philanthropic acts is from her personal pockets or if she is fronting for somebody. This is especially because of how much she cried out to the public for financial assistance, before and during her saga with Suleman which isn’t too far off.
Halima, who in 2022 announced her retirement from acting over health concerns, had confessed to an alleged romantic affair between her and the cleric. She claimed that she agreed to an alleged romantic affair with the preacher because he told her he was divorced with three children. She was forced to make the confession when she got hit by a strange ailment which defied medical cure. She claimed that Suleiman was allegedly responsible for her deteriorating condition after she decided to move on with her life.
Although Suleman denied ever being in any alleged romantic relationship with Halima, Halima’s sister accused him of being economical with the truth. She claimed that Halima allegedly has many framed photos of Suleman in their family house. Also, she claimed that because of her sister’s debilitating illness which persisted for years, Halima allegedly had to forgo a political appointment from their State Government. Halima’s sister even claimed that the controversial cleric was allegedly engaged to her sister at some point in their relationship for four years.
Halima also claimed that she allegedly got pregnant for Suleman three times, but she had to terminate the pregnancies. Suleiman eventually sued Halima for N1 billion naira for damages and for continuously defaming him. He asked her to publish a retraction of her defamatory statements on her Instagram handle @alimabubakar and on several online blogs and newspapers. She was also asked to pay the cleric the sum of N20 million, being the legal fee paid to the counsels handing this suit. Despite the defamation suit against her, Halima continued to defame Suleman, claiming that he allegedly promised to marry her but that she turned down the offer several times.
Well, there is no record of Halima ever paying the N1 billion for defaming Suleman nor is there any record of her paying N20 million in legal fees to him or publishing a retraction of her defamatory statement. She has however heeded to some voices of reasoning and has moved on to a new chapter of her life.
