Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has urged the Federal Government to quickly open a thorough investigation into the failure of the National Hajj Commission in the last 2022 Hajj Operation.
The Governor said the last hajj was mismanaged by the commission, alleging that its managers displayed dishonesty and criminal tendencies.
“The last 2022 Hajj operation was the worst I ever witnessed during my tenure as the governor of Kano State. It was mismanaged, a number of dishonest attitudes, fraud and anomalies,” observed the governor.
He raised the concerns, Friday, at Africa House, Government House, Kano, when he received the 2022 Hajj Operation report, Friday, from the management of Kano Pilgrims Welfare Board, led by the Chairman of the Board, Abdullahi Saleh Pakistan and Executive Secretary of the Board, Abba Muhammad Danbatta.
After congratulating the state Pilgrims Board, for their untiring effort in the Hajj operation, he disclosed that “Due to the inefficiency and mismanagement of the National Hajj Commission, many Pilgrims suffered severely without any remorse from the national agency.”
He further added that, due to the ‘dishonest attitudes’ of the National Commission, even at the level of service delivery, National Hajj Commission failed woefully.
The airline we chose was not the one they gave us. I went there personally to lodge our complaint and they promised to abide by our choice. But unfortunately, they gave us another airline entirely different.”
He said many Pilgrims were left behind on the ground without performing Hajj operations.
“The airline they gave to us was the one we gave our slots to, the previous year, and the airline sold the slots we gave them. So this is the same airline, they gave us due to inefficiency and mismanagement.
Though we told them our reason for rejecting the airline they attached to us. They promised to give us our choice, but they failed to do that,” he complained.