Not only Katsina pilgrims stoned Kanti Bello in Mecca –Nasiru Abdul

It was very successful. I would say the 2009 Hajj, with the exception of certain areas, was highly successful as it pertains to Nigerian pilgrims, and in particular, Katsina State pilgrims. I am grateful to God that we have conducted one of the most successful hajj operations in recent years. You said it was successful […]

It was very successful. I would say the 2009 Hajj, with the exception of certain areas, was highly successful as it pertains to Nigerian pilgrims, and in particular, Katsina State pilgrims. I am grateful to God that we have conducted one of the most successful hajj operations in recent years.

You said it was successful except in certain areas, what are these areas?

Hajj exercise comes with peculiar problems every year. But, generally, most of the problems of hajj are known and measures are being instituted gradually to see how those problems can be minimised, or even, totally eradicated. For instance, for years we have been having the problem of airlifting our pilgrims to the holy land in good time and their return journey to Nigeria. For two years now, you can give kudos to the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON)and the airlines. For 2008 and 2009, Nigeria had successfully evacuated her pilgrims to the holy land without asking for an extension of the deadline of the closure of the airports from Saudi authorities. This is a big plus. This has been one of the pressing areas that have been giving hajj officials great problem. Another problem area revolves around the conduct and attitude of our pilgrims, especially in the holy land. Right from here, you will discover that a lot of enlightenment and education are carried out on pilgrims on the proper way they are supposed to behave, especially since they are on a journey for fulfilment of one of the five pillars of Islam. You will expect their behaviour to be exceptional, but many times when you ask our pilgrims to queue up for certain basic things, what you get is a rowdy behaviour, unconventional attitude, indiscipline and so on. But even with these problems, now, you can say that more states are recording improvements with regards to the way their pilgrims are behaving. Apparently, this may not be unconnected with the way the officials are conducting themselves. But I think with time, there will be significant positive changes with regards to the attitude of Nigerian pilgrims.

Some pilgrims from Katsina were fingered to have stoned the leader of the federal government delegation, Senator Mahmud Kanti Bello, in protest against the enforcement of the luggage policy. How would you react to this?

Let me correct an impression that was widely circulated amongst Nigerian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia and Nigerians back at home with regards to the alleged stoning of the national Amirul Hajj (leader of the federal government delegation), distinguished Senator Mahmud Kanti Bello. At the weighing centre where the Amirul Hajj and other officials visited, there were many states that were engaged in the weighing of their luggage and the Amirul Hajj went there at a time when there were pilgrims from Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi and some other states, and so if there was anything untoward by the pilgrims, certainly you cannot single out Katsina pilgrims alone and blame them. If you are to apportion blame, you must apportion it to all the pilgrims concerned who were around at the time the national Amirul Hajj visited the centre. We, as a team from Katsina totally condemned the attitude of the pilgrims, whether they are from Katsina or wherever, for stoning our leaders there, for embarrassing our national Amirul Hajj and his team and officials from NAHCON and even the Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and for tarnishing the image of Nigeria in the Holy Land. We totally condemned it; it’s an abhorrent behaviour and we urge pilgrims to desist from engaging in such kinds of behaviour in the future.

With regard to the new policy on weighing, we support it in totality. We from Katsina, even before we left for the Holy Land, started sensitizing and educating our pilgrims on the new luggage policy, because we understood when the Amirul Hajj came to Katsina he made it clear to us that the policy was going to be enforced. When we went to Saudi Arabia, NAHCON issued a circular that they were going to enforce the new policy. So we said it was a good policy, it was in the best interest of pilgrims, the Nigerian officials and the airlines. But knowing how pilgrims behave generally, you have to be very cautious even in implementing laudable policies such as the new luggage policy. For instance, we felt that the national Amirul Hajj when embarking on a visit to the weighing centre ought to have intimated the state officials, those of us from Katsina, and those from other states so that we would be around, probably we would have prevented what happened there. The mere fact that the pilgrims had been that their officials who knew them were present might have discouraged them from manifesting any untoward behaviour. The point is, as per protocol, we were supposed to have been intimated that the national Amirul Hajj would be there, and we would have receive him and conducted him round and if he got credit or kudos for whatever he did there we would have share it.

Is Katsina pilgrims’ board going to take any action against those identified to have taken part in stoning the Amirul Hajj?

What happened was that there were pictures that were taken of the alleged culprits and the officials at the national level marked out the people they thought were party to what happened and they handed the pictures to us so as to fish them out. I think in Katsina we were able to fish out two pilgrims who were alleged to have participated and the details of those pilgrims were handed over to officials at the federal level.  It is left for them to determine the kind of punishment to give to them.

You earlier lauded the effort of NAHCON and air carriers for meeting the deadline for the out-bound journey to the holy land for hajj. But there was hitch during the return. What was responsible for that?

I agree with you, every Nigerian pilgrim who participated in this year’s will notice that during the outbound journey to Saudi Arabia it was a smooth sail. But during the return journey, we experienced some delays and hitches here and there and when we asked, we were told that they were occasioned by restrictions of the Saudi authorities. If you notice this year, all our pilgrims landed and took up at the international wing and  there were limited screening bays there, whereas there were pilgrims from all over the world. So I think, apparently, the limitation of enough screening bays must have been responsible for the slight delays and the hitches that were experienced. And then, again, there were what the authorities called slots. They allocated slots to countries so that, for instance, if 10 slots were allocated to Nigeria, those slots will eventually be shared among the airlines that are taking part in the exercise. The carriers will in turn ration the slots among states under their responsibilities. So, you discover that some states will have slots today and they will not have tomorrow. But in any case, even those slight delays and hitches if you compare to previous hajj you can say there was an improvement in respect to airlifting Nigerian pilgrims back from Saudi Arabia.

 

How do you tackle the problem of insufficient screening bays for Nigerian pilgrims at Jeddah Airport?

This is not an issue that NAHCON or states pilgrims’ welfare boards can solve. It is a Saudi issue and it has to be followed through the appropriate channels and I’m sure our officials are not relenting on that.

 What is your board’s standing on government’s insistence that only National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) can secure pilgrims’ accommodation in Medina?

NAHCON has been very helpful and supportive to pilgrims in respect of securing accommodation. If you have noticed compared to what had happened in the past, there has been tremendous improvement with respect to the number and standard of accommodation that was being secured for Nigerian pilgrims in Medina. Of course, in Mecca, it was the prerogative of the various state pilgrims welfare agencies. Many of our pilgrims have commended the standard of the houses that they were accommodated in Medina, either in terms of their proximity to the Prophet’s Mosque, or in terms of their quality. But all the same, you will notice that there was a problem between NAHCON and the officials who were engaged in sharing of the accommodation. Once pilgrims arrived at the reception centre, if you took the time they spent before they were taken to their various accommodations and then there was lack of linkage between those officials and the officials of various states. So you discovered that, for instance, pilgrims from Katsina were taken to certain house, but the state officials did not know the location of those houses or the location that was given to them on paper that their pilgrims were taken to. So it is the state officials who have to go round to trace where their pilgrims were accommodated. That gave problem in moving the pilgrims from Medina to Mecca. We in Katsina notified NAHCON of that problem in 2008 and we were hopeful they would take measures to rectify it last year, but we still experienced that kind of problem this year though on a lesser scale. But by and large, NAHCON is trying with respect to the accommodation in Medina and with respect to appointing competent staff to the hajj mission, and the prompt manner they respond to complaints from pilgrims and pilgrims’ officials as the case may be.

How do you view the first trial of the e-passport in the just-concluded hajj?

Initially, there were a lot of apprehensions, but with the help of Allah, and with the cooperation of every stakeholder it has been done successfully and I think it was a good development because, honestly, personally, I support the Saudi policy of trying to restrict pilgrims going to Mecca on a yearly basis. The e-passport will help greatly in that regard.