Over 200 missing passports of Sokoto State Pilgrims have been retrieved by the National Hajj Commission Of Nigeria NAHCON.
The state’s Amirul Hajj, Manir Dan’iya confirmed this on Tuesday in a statement by his Director of Press, Aminu Abdullahi Abubakar.
He said the passport got stuck in Madina, forcing the affected Pilgrims to travel to Makka for hajj rites without the official documents.
According to him, a NAHCON representative, Ambassador Yahaya Shuaibu disclosed this to Dan’iya, who is also the Deputy Governor, when the commission’s team visited Sokoto State Pilgrims’ tents in Mina.
The team leader was responding to an inquiry by the Sokoto Amirul Hajj on the fate of those whose Passports got missing in Madina before their transit to Makka for the Hajj, he added.
“If not with the good understanding of the Saudi Officials on the road from Madina to Makka, they would have missed the just concluded Hajj.
“All the Passports were recovered and taken to Muassasa in Makka for the continuous preparation to return them to Nigeria as scheduled,” he quoted the NAHCON team leader as stating.
Abubakar also revealed that the Sokoto State Amirul Hajj appealed to the Federal Government to halt its intention to disengage from Hajj affairs.
The Amirul Hajj noted that Nigerians still need the Federal Government’s full involvement in the exercise, adding that states had limited resources to cater for the well-being of the pilgrims.
