Hajj: Sultan blasts state officials
From MUSA A. TIJJANI, in Jedda

State Hajj officials have been accused of being dishonest and insincere in matters affecting their pilgrims, the Amirul Hajj and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, has observed.
The Sultan also observed that due to incompetence of such officials in handling Hajj affairs they should have no business in the exercise.
He made the assertion during an interaction with stakeholders on the review of home-bound airlift of pilgrims, saying that the Hajj officials should always be frank, straight-forward and interactive with their pilgrims if the persistent problems experienced during Hajj operations could be adequately tackled.
The Sultan, who was responding to a myriad of complaints from state officials over their stranded pilgrims, said: “The problem is that most of these officials have remained obscure and unconcerned about their pilgrims so much that they don’t even tell them the plain truth about the exrercise.’’
He questioned for instance, “if you know there is no plane on the ground, why risk taking your pilgrims to the airport away from the comfort of their residences,’’ adding that if you know there is problem, discuss it with them; be honest and straight-forward. But if you neglect them, they’ll have negative feelings about you...Honestly, some of you should not be in this Hajj operation because it’s something that needs a lot of sacrifice and not indolence.”
Sultan Abubakar then called on the state officials to always go closer to their pilgrims and feel their real impulse with a view to understanding their problems and how to solve them.
“Most of these human problems are avoidable if all of you will be sincere to this cause,” he added.
However, some state officials had claimed the problems were as a result of failure of the airlines to live up to their responsibilities by adhering strictly to the flight schedules.
Executive Secretary of the Plateau state Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Saleh Bayari, told the session that his pilgrims were running out of patience because, according to him, they have been stranded with some of them beginning to think of moving to the airport to make room for themselves in any available flight.
Earlier, Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alhaji Ibrahim Kazaure, had appealed for more patience from the pilgrims, cautioning however, that Saudi authorities would not take it lightly with any act of violence committed by any pilgrim in the Holyland.
Said he: “In fact, we have no right to go and plead on behalf of any pilgrim found to have been involved in any violent conduct.”