No fewer than 2,000 guests of the custodian of the two holy mosques in Saudi Arabia, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, have arrived in the kingdom for the 2024 hajj.

The programme of the custodian of the two holy mosques was instituted over two decades ago by King Salman to annually sponsor and host thousands of pilgrims from various countries, enabling them to perform the hajj with support and assistance provided by the Government of Saudi Arabia to promote Islamic solidarity and foster a sense of global Muslim community.

King Salman is hosting 1,300 pilgrims from over 88 countries, and 1,000 pilgrims from families of martyrs, prisoners and wounded Palestinians, and 22 pilgrims from families of conjoined twins who were separated in the kingdom, to perform hajj this year (1445).

The programme is supervised and implemented annually by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance.

From Nigeria, no fewer than 30 pilgrims were invited to join the programme as the guests of the custodian of the holy mosques.

They are the Grand Khadi of the Kwara State Sharia Court of Appeal, Justice Abdullateef Kamaldeen; a former Grand Khadi in the state, Justice Idris Haroon, President of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Sharia, Shaykh Abdulrasheed Hadiyatullah; prominent Islamic scholar and Borno-based Islamic scholar and prominent Qur'an Reciter, Sheik Umar Goni Bashir.

Others are the Director-General of Daru Nai'im, Sheikh Imran Eleha, Executive Secretary/CEO of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Commission, Dr Muhammad Sani Idris; Prof Sadiq Abdu, among others.