Controversy trails 2022 Hajj operations, group calls for probe

CONTROVERSY has continued to trail the Hajj 2022 operations as the Association for Hajj and Umrah operators of Nigeria (AHOUN) have urged the Federal Government to investigate the 2022 Hajj Operation in the country in which hundreds of intending Pilgrims failed to be airlifted.

The call was made on Saturday, by the National President of the association, Alhaji Nasidi Yahaya Sulaiman while briefing pressmen at the NUJ Press Centre Kano State, north western Nigeria. The call is aimed at restoring sanity into future operations. 

“What happened is really pathetic in the history of Hajj Operation in the country,” he said. 

ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

• Top 10 Business Ideas In Nigeria You Can Start With 100,000 Naira

• Lunatics Have Taken Over Affairs Of Nigeria ― Obi

• How To Detect Fake Bank Alerts

According to him, over 700 international intending pilgrims that are supposed to travel to the holy land for this year’s pilgrimage are stranded in Kano, Abuja and Lagos. 

He said “We appeal to the federal government of Nigeria to as a matter of urgency set up a powerful and genuine panel to review this year’s Hajj activity from scratch.” 

He noted that: “It happens because NAHCON fails to provide alternative carriers as rescue flight to airlift the pilgrims.” 

According to him, the action has caused a lot of damages to operational reputations of their companies and lot of emotional trauma to clients. 

Meanwhile, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has declared that it will thoroughly investigate rip off of some Nigerian intending pilgrims by some licenced tour operators who allegedly collected extra money from the intending pilgrims claiming that such amount was for the Hajj body. 

NAHCON Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan, stated this when asked by journalists at Arafat in Saudi Arabia to react to a viral video in which some intending pilgrims claimed they paid extra amount to their operator who claimed the money was meant for NAHCON to enable them to be airlifted to the Holy Land. 

According to him, NAHCON was going to investigate such allegation against it by some tour operators who collected extra money from their clients, claiming that the money was collected to be transferred to the Hajj body.

Hassan said the commission would not only sanction such tour operators but also invited security and investigative agencies to investigate such operators.

“Well we need to investigate it (allegation). But if it is true that there were such allegations, there will certainly be sanction,” he said