By Princess Simon (Bureau Chief North-Central, in Minna)
Intending pilgrims from Niger state who are stranded have cried out to the state govt over the inability to airlift them to Mecca.
While intending pilgrims from other parts of the country have already been airlifted for this year’s pilgrimage to Mecca, their counterparts from Niger state at the Bosso hajj camp have been in a state of uncertainties as there seem no sign of their being airlifted any time soon.
The intending pilgrims, according to findings by NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Correspondent in Minna, have been waiting for over three days now and no words from the state government as to why they were abandoned and the possibility of their joining other Moslem faithfuls from across the world to perform this year’s pilgrimage.
Already, there are fears of the possibility of being caught up with the deadline, as the Saudi Arabian authority schedules tomorrow (Tuesday) as deadline for closure of airlifting of pilgrims to the Holy Land.
A family member of one of the intending pilgrims who spoke to NEWSLEADER on condition of anonymity, expressed fear of her wards being left behind as unconfirmed reports had it that the state's intending pilgrims may have to travel to Abuja, from where they will be airlifted to the Holy Land.
Due to poor preparation and management of this year’s Muslim pilgrimage, some intending pilgrims have accused the Niger state government and the State Pilgrims’ Welfare Board of non-chalant attitude towards successful performing of the religious obligations.
“We tried to find out what is happening but for reasons best known to them, they are not forthcoming. How can you keep people here for three days now and nobody is telling us if our people are still going or not. This is not proper”, one of the Pilgrims said.
In his outburst, the intending pilgrim decried what he termed unwarranted secrecy in the entire process by the state pilgrims board, including hiding relevant information from them. He also expressed fears that there is the possibility that many of them may not make the trip as they could not reconcile their travelling documentations without them knowing and about it.
The intending Pilgrim lamented that, “It is unfortunate that everything about the planning of this year’s hajj operations in Niger state falls short of expectations”, the pilgrim expressed regrets that their counterparts from other states, including Borno, Adamawa, Kaduna, Ebonyi, Lagos, Kogi, Sokoto, Enugu and Oyo, have long been airlifted except Niger. NNL.
