NIGERIA MASTERWEB DAILY NEWS

BY Lateef Lawal

Forty intending pilgrims to this year’s Hajj exercise in Mecca, Saudi Arabia have been allegedly duped over N20 million and abandoned by their agent at the Hajj Camp of the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA), Lagos. The agent simply identified as F.O. Kazeem took the pilgrims from Saki West Local Government Area of Oyo State on Wednesday morning only for him to abandon them to their fate while he took the next available flight to Mecca with Medview Air.

The spokesman for the abandoned intending pilgrims, Alhaji Musa Jubril said they had been at the camp since Wednesday morning and were unsure of when they would eventually make the trip to the holy land of Mecca en-route Jeddah. According to Jubril, the intending pilgrims met the agent in Oyo State and paid different fees for the exercise through his bank account, his agent and staff members. He said the fees ranged from N420, 000 to N650, 000 per person. ( Continues below..... )

Photo Above: Nigerian Naira Notes

Alhaji Jubril however said the agent had assured them that some of them would be airlifted Friday night as one of his staff, Mr. Jimoh Akinola had been sent to Ghana to process their visas. He added that most of them had already lost hope in the whole arrangement. “We don’t want to believe that the agent abandoned us because he promised to ensure that we are all airlifted to the holy land today (Friday) but the fact is that we have been here since Wednesday morning only for us to be told that we could not travel with the other pilgrims and there is no concrete explanation from any quarter. Meanwhile, he has traveled to Saudi Arabia since Wednesday and he told us that one of his staff will go to Ghana to process our visas. I don’t know how our passport could be taken to Ghana. But the only thing we want is to be airlifted to Mecca before the airspace is shut. What do we tell our people at home? Some of them even thought we have departed, only for us to be abandoned here in Lagos.”

One of the pilgrims who did not want his name disclosed, said that some of them actually paid the agent through another agent in the name of Harakat Nigeria Limited that is equally at large. However, information gathered revealed that some of the pilgrims who registered with the agent last year and hoped to be airlifted by the designated career, Medview were abandoned at the airport. Some of them were still among the 40 pilgrims abandoned for this year’s exercise.

It was gathered that the agent as part of his alternative arrangement, is for the pilgrims’ passports to be taken to Togo if they were denied visas in Ghana. Sources claim the agent made side arrangements with some officials of Medview (names withheld), who were unable to ensure the pilgrims were airlifted on Wednesday night because of inadequate travel documents. A source close to Hajj Camp said the issue had been reported to the State Security Services (SSS) who are investigating it. According to the source, SSS has compiled the names of the abandoned pilgrims and the agent(s) who may be nabbed anytime from now.