‘Why Plateau pilgrims yet to take off’

The spokesman of the Muslim Pilgrims Board in Plateau State, Namu Sanusi, has said the reason why the intending pilgrims are yet to be airlifted is connected to the delay to provide the required visas by the relevant authorities.

Sanusi, however, said the board on Monday received over 500 visas out of the 826 slots for the state, adding that in the next three days all the remaining visas would be ready and the pilgrims would be airlifted to the holy land.

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He said, “We hope that in the next three days all intending pilgrims would be airlifted. We have two planes.

“The first one will airlift 500 pilgrims and the remaining 326 would be attached with some pilgrims from Bauchi and be airlifted. There is no cause for alarm. All the 826 pilgrims would surely be airlifted to the holy land.”

Lawan Salisu, an intending pilgrim from the state told Daily Trust that he was not happy with the delay considering that “we have finished all necessary preparations and yet we haven’t been called for the journey.

“We are beginning to lose hope because it is long overdue. Nonetheless, we are still waiting to see if it is possible to visit the holy land this year.”