No fewer than 2, 000 Nigerian pilgrims who performed this year’s hajj have returned to the country safely.
A statement issued in Makkah on yesterday by the Command and Control Centre of the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON), stated that those flown home include some of the pilgrims from Kogi, Sokoto, Lagos and FCT pilgrims including some ad-hoc officials of the NAHCON who served in this year’s hajj operations.
The return journey which commenced on Monday 27rh August, is expected to last about three weeks.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of NAHCON, Barr. Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad, has urged all the Executive Secretaries of the states Pilgrims Welfare Board to prepare their pilgrims on time according to the schedule to avoid any hitch in the homeward journey.
This was part of his warnings when he addressed members of the national media team of this year’s exercise during a meeting at NAHCON headquarters in Makkah.
Muhammed expressed optimism that with pilgrims keeping to official baggage of only 32 kg and 8 kg for hand luggage in addition to the cooperation of NAHCON officials, the homeward journey could be completed before schedule.
Meanwhile, Alhaji Yahaya Omaki, a Protocol Officer in the office of the First Lady of Nassarawa State, Hajia Salanatu Tanko Al-Makura, has returned about N500,000, he found to its owner in Makkah, Saudi-Arabia.
The money kept in a purse with other items got missing on Tuesday during circumambulation (Tawaf – going-round the House of Allah). The owner, a Pakistani – Mr. Faisal Saleem, later received a call from the founder Alhaji Omaki through a phone found in the recovered purse.
Receiving the lost items, on Tuesday in Makkah, from Omaki, Mr. Saleem thanked the former for his honesty and prayed that Almighty Allah to reward him bountifully.
The news on the recovered money has continued to dominate media space following a statement issued by the National Coordinator of Independent Hajj Reporters (IHR), Alh. Ibrahim Mohammed.
