Daily Independent (Lagos)
Emma Maduabuchi
3 January 2009
The recurring issue of the welfare of Nigerians on pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam's holiest city, in Saudi Arabia, came to the fore again on Saturday, December 20, when Nigerian pilgrims demonstrated to register their displeasure with the authorities' shoddy preparation for the hajj.
The issue of welfare of Nigerians on pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia has somehow become a recurring decimal. Pilgrims on Saturday, December 20, demonstrated in two major streets in the holy city to register their displeasure at the shoddy arrangement by the authorities, which they claimed was not happening for the first time.
At the airport in Jeddah, where the airlifting of Nigerians took place, many, according to reports, were seen sauntering around, not knowing when it would be their turn to be flown back to home. It was also reported that days after nationals of other countries had concluded the hajj and flown back to their countries, Nigerians were still stranded in the foreign land not knowing when and how they could get home as no official of Nigerian government was around to give assistance or point the way forward on how and when they would be flown home.
Thousands of Nigerian Muslims claimed Nigerian authorities abandoned them two weeks after the hajj exercise. According to reports, they opted for a protest march through the major streets of the holy city to draw attention of the Nigerian as well as the Arabian authorities to their plight.
"We embarked on one (strike) to press home our demands and for those in authority to notice that we are stranded in Mecca. By the time we blocked the roads, the Saudi authority called our government to order and the strategy worked," said one of the pilgrims that have managed to arrive Nigeria. But some others have not been that lucky.
Most of those who suffered this fate made it through the nation's Pilgrims' Welfare Board (PWB) with assistance from any quarters. PWB is a body saddled with the responsibility of seeing that no Nigerian suffers any hardship in Mecca. Unfortunately, however, the board has so far failed to live up to expectation as those, unlike the PWB, who travelled through international routes made it home on time without any hassle.
The incident proved to be a re-enacting in reversed form, of what happened three weeks earlier at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos. Nigerians were said to have been stranded and could not be airlifted for pilgrimage, because King Abdul Azeez International Airport at Jeddah, was already shut for pilgrims. This was a contradiction of sort as the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Amirul Hajj (leader of the hajj delegation), Dimeji Bankole said on Monday, December 15, that he was satisfied with the airlifting arrangements and performance of the Nigerian authorities. He assured Nigerians, at home and those with him at the hajj, that all would be well.
"The figures of the pilgrims currently at home are very clear that we are progressing. First, we have already hit 3,000 per day. We did not reach this until 10, 14 days last year. Second, and more importantly, we are hitting 8,500 by tonight (Monday night). This will be more than 100 per cent than we hit at the same time last year, so we are pretty happy so far," Bankole had said.
But critics have dismissed Bankole's assurance as another convenient official smokescreen to hoodwink the people. It was their thinking that the speaker could get away with any of such statement for as long as he was with them.
Incidentally, the pilgrims especially from the western part of Nigeria at both the Medina and Jeddah airports during the protest that eventually took place on Monday, December 22, insisted that they were, indeed, stranded in the holy city notwithstanding the stories the authorities have bandied about to Nigerians at home. They sent a Save-Our-Soul (SOS) message to President Umaru Yar'Adua over their plight.
Muktar Gbadeyanka of the Al Idaaya Travels, Ibadan, for instance, reportedly picked holes in the Speaker's statements.
"Contrary to the report given by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, that this year's hajj operation was hitch-free, we want to make it clear that about 5,000 pilgrims from the south-west of Nigeria are currently stranded in Saudi Arabia.
"We have been languishing here since the past three days because the Hamsa Airline chartered by the Federal Government to airlift us has refused to lift us. To compound our problems, the organiser had not been forthcoming in alleviating our problems. We are calling on the Federal Government and, indeed, the Chairman of the Hajj Commission, Alhaji Mohammed Bello to live up to expectation because about 5,000 South West pilgrims, including tour operators, are stranded here now.
"In fact, contrary to information going on about our condition, people here are protesting now at the Medinna and Jedda airports. We are suffering here. The Nigerian government should find a solution to our condition. Based on our condition, the Saudi government has shown readiness to assist Nigeria, but they are waiting for directive from the Nigerian government," Gbadeyanka said, pleading that the government should link up with the Saudi authorities to save them from the embarrassment because "our people are already expecting us home."
Other nationals, many believe, do not encounter the kind of suffering Nigerians go through every year in performing the hajj. But some Muslims who claim to be versed with the issue of hajj and airlifting of pilgrims are saying that none of the pilgrims awaiting airlifting back to the country presently could be categorised as being stranded in the holy land. Their argument stem from the fact that the time earmarked for the exercise has not elapsed. They insisted that the first leg of the operation took 22 days for the airlifting of more than 70,000 pilgrims, which was done with as much as 254 flights. They, therefore, said that it would amount to exhibition of ignorance for anyone to expect that the same number could be airlifted in less than that number of days.
Such problems of pilgrims, some say, are considered common by some Muslims who consider it a spiritual exercise, for which the forces of darkness would always want to truncate. For instance, during the airlifting of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia this year, some pilgrims were reported to have encountered serious obstacles that left many of them stranded.
The case of pilgrims from Niger State comes readily to mind. The angry pilgrims were reported to have thronged the international wing of the Abuja Airport early morning November 28, looking anxious and frustrated, in their search for entry visas to Saudi Arabia.
What nobody was able to explain to Saturday Enquirer was why eligible pilgrims, who had satisfied all formal and informal requirements, would not be issued with entry visa to the holy land to fulfil their religious obligations, which many of them had dreamt of all their lives. It for this reason that pilgrims, after waiting in vain to be attended to at the camp in Niger State trooped to the airport, their designated point of airlift, in order to see whether they can sort things out there. But their presence, most unfortunately, ended up constituting what the authorities consider a nuisance at the airport.
There are others who argue that the problem of most Nigerian pilgrims is impatience, because they would not wait for their scheduled time to be airlifted instead, immediately the exercise ends, they would all troop to the airport when the time allocated for the country had not reached. A Muslim who does not want his name in print explained that nationals of more than 70 countries that attend the Hajj would wait patiently until the time allocated for their countries before they start coming to the airport.
Yobe State is one of many states that have spoken against the present setup, whereby the Federal Government handles the airlifting of pilgrims to and from Mecca. Deputy Governor, Ibrahim Geidam, made a case for the Federal Government to allow states to start handling airlifting of pilgrims. Geidam claimed this would go a long way in reducing the hardship pilgrims frequently encounter in their transportation to the holy land. He further revealed that his state government had done very well in securing accommodation for its citizens at various comfortable hotels close to two Mosques in Mecca and Medina.
Official report from the Nigerian National Hajj Commission (NAHCON), indicated that as at December 30, 2008, a total of 61,868 Nigerians had already been airlifted back to the country, which would amount to about 72.8 per cent of the total Nigerians who performed the year's hajj. The figure is based on information posted on the Commission's web site over the weekend by Liad Tella, the Federal Hajj Commissioner in charge of Policy, Personnel Management and Finance.
Tella explained that 155 flights had already been operated on the return leg flights. He, however, said that the number of return flights might be more than the 254 flights of the first legs, being the result of some 747 aircrafts being used to replace the 752 used in the first leg.
More flights, according to Tella, have been made to Nigeria by the airlines since last Monday more than was done at the same time in the first leg.
He also said that seven flights of Boeing 747 left the holy land for different airports in Nigeria daily since Saturday, December 20, 2008.
NAHCOM Chairman, Mohammed Bello, has also directed that the rule of first come first to go must be followed.
"No pilgrim is bigger than the other before Allah," Bello was quoted as saying. He, however, pleaded with those hoping to jump the queue to follow the path of honour and Islamic guidance against cheating. Bello warned that NAHCON will exploit the Act establishing it to the fullest to take drastic measures against anyone or group who may be involved in misguided action when it is not their time to leave the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Bello stated that the first leg of the airlift operation took 22 days and that the return journey would end by January 6, 2009.
Bankole was said to have made a two-day non-stop visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on his way to Nigeria to ensure that plans for the airlifting of the pilgrims back remained on course. Reports claimed that he visited the pilgrims in Mecca and held consultative meetings with stakeholders. He directed NAHCON to utilise government intervention fund to ensure that the pilgrims and their legitimate luggage are brought back home without delay before making a quick departure home to join his colleagues in passing the 2009 national budget.
The Speaker has been under attack for leaving others behind and coming home, when he is supposed to act as the leader of the delegation. His critics insist that a true leader should be the last to leave.
It is the belief of many Muslims that participating in the annual pilgrimage or hajj in Saudi Arabia is a life ambition that nobody should miss. Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam that every adult and able-bodied Muslim must undertake, at least once in their lifetime. For this reason, something in the region of 2,000,000 Muslims, from more than 70 countries are known to converge every year on Mecca, to partake in the hajj.
On the 12th month of the Muslim calendar (Dhul-Hijjah), pilgrims, both young and old, are required to assemble at the city to hear sermons at Mount Arafat, which indicate a testament of their faith in God. The event lasts six days and has been considered one of the biggest mass movements of people on the planet.
As part of the weeklong activities, pilgrims stand on the Jamarat Bridge to hurl stones at three thick walls in a symbolic gesture of casting out the devil and rejecting temptation. A lot of women pilgrims do not usually participate directly in this ritual, instead they have someone to help them cast the stones, rather than pile into the melee of pilgrims and pebbles.
As sign of their consecration, the participants wear plain white clothes. The men wear seamless, long, white robes while the women wear plain white dresses with scarves. The attachment to white is considered to symbolise the equality of all people in the eyes of Allah.
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