Hajj: Aliero’s panel report against us baseless – States pilgrims boards

The chairman, Zamfara State Hajj Commission, Alhaji Abubakar S. Pawa Dambo, has said the allegation by the Senate adhoc panel on Hajj that state chairmen of Pilgrims boards are corrupt is baseless and unjustifiable. The Senate adhoc committee on accommodations and other Hajj logistics led by Senator Adamu Aliero had accused states Pilgrims boards and […]

The chairman, Zamfara State Hajj Commission, Alhaji Abubakar S. Pawa Dambo, has said the allegation by the Senate adhoc panel on Hajj that state chairmen of Pilgrims boards are corrupt is baseless and unjustifiable.

The Senate adhoc committee on accommodations and other Hajj logistics led by Senator Adamu Aliero had accused states Pilgrims boards and NAHCON of corruption and sending family members as officials to Hajj.

Reacting, the chairman of the State Muslims Pilgrims Welfare Boards said what the Aliero committee said in its report was only their own perception and imagination.

He challenged the committee to back up their claims with facts and figures.

On the allocation of official seats, Alhaji Dambo said the allocation is the sole responsibility of state governments, not the state pilgrims agencies.

“It is the state governments that determine the number of official seats and then allocate them to whoever they wish and we cannot challenge their decisions. I believe the committee is ignorant of the system,” he added.

He said it was unfair for the Aliero committee to draw such wrong conclusion even though it never seemed it fit to invite them during its sittings.

“We were once invited by the House Committee on Saudi-Nigeria parliamentary relations for an investigative hearing and we appropriately responded to their inquiries,” he added.