The National Amir Hajj of the 2016 hajj operations, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, who is also the Etsu Nupe, has commended Nigeria’s pilgrims to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for being good ambassadors of Nigeria.
The Amir hajj said Nigeria was grateful to the pilgrims for not conducting themselves in a manner detrimental to the image of the country.
The Etsu Nupe spoke when he undertook a tour of some states accommodations, including those of Borno and Lagos States, on Saturday evening.
Abubakar said the visit was an on-the-spot assessment of the condition under which the pilgrims lived with a view to finding immediate solution to some, while others that cannot be solved at the spot would be forwarded to the appropriate authorities.
He said: “We are a team set up by His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto and leader of Muslims in Nigeria, to come to the holy land as your leaders and attend to your needs.
“Our delagation is in line with the prophetic injunction, which says where two or more persons are on a journey, there must be a leader of that journey.
“We are visiting to see how you are fairing in terms of feeding, medication, accommodation and transportation.
“We will try to solve some of the challenges you may be facing and report to appropriate authorities the ones we cannot solve.”
Abubakar said from the responses he received so far from the places he had visited, there had been remarkable improvement in these services this year.
He however, decried the lack of adequate cooling system at Mina, calling on the authority concerned to address such lapse in future hajj exercise.
Welcoming the Amir to Borno House, the Amir Hajj and the Deputy Governor of the state, Usman Mamman Durkwa, commended the delegation for caring about the welfare of Nigerians.
Durkwa related that the state was satisfied with virtually all the services except for the ugly experience it had with the vehicle that brought its pilgrims from Medinah to Makkah.
He further called on the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria to provide enough toilets and bathrooms for the pilgrims to avoid unnecessary queuing.
He informed that the State Governor, Alhaji Kassim Shettima, had made a lot of contributions at ensuring the comfort of the state’s pilgrims.
He said: “Our state governor graciously subsidised our accommodation by N1 million, subsidised the cost of rams by over N60 million for our pilgrims, sponsored over a hundred Ulamas.”
While in Lagos State House, the Etsu Nupe commended the pilgrims for orderliness.
The Aragbiji of Iragbiji, Oba Rasheed Olabomi, who was a part of the delegation, prayed for the continued unity of Nigeria.
The Oba called on the pilgrims to pray for President Muhammadu Buhari and others in order to get Nigeria out of any challenges it was facing at the moment.
The Amir hajj of the state and Commissioner for Home Affairs, AbdulLateef AbdulHakeem, thanked the delegation for finding Lagos State pilgrims worthy of visit.
AbdulHakeem further commended Buhari for making sure that Nigerian Muslims had a comfortable pilgrimage in spite of the economic crunch in the country.
The delegation was made up the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, as Chairman; the Aragbiji of Iragbiji in Osun State, Oba Rasheed Olabomi; the Emir of Dass, Alhaji Usman Bilyaminu Othman; the Wazirin Katsina, Prof. Sani Lugga; and Chief Imam of Owo in Ondo State, Alhaji Ahmed Aladesawe.
Source: The Eagle Online
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