‎Hajj: Only five Nigerians died in Saudi Arabia – NAHCON

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria on Thursday said that only five Nigerians performing this year’s Hajj in Saudi Arabia have so far died.

NAHCON’s spokesperson, Malam Uba Mana, in a telephone interview said  that contrary to reports that 10 Nigerians died on Monday in Saudi Arabia, it was five of them that answered the call of Allah.

Mana said the head of the Medical Team told a NAHCON pre-Arafat meeting at the Nigeria Consulate in Makkah that the deceased died of natural causes as against speculations that they were involved in an accident.

Mana said out of the five, two of them died in Haram Mosque in Makkah when they slumped and it was found out that it was due to high blood pressure and diabetes.

Hee added: “The remaining three also died of high blood pressure and diabetes.

“They even found their drugs in their bag where they slumped.”

On the allegation that over 1,000 Nigerian pilgrims might miss this year’s Hajj as they were stranded in Madina, Mana promised that all pilgrims from Nigeria would not miss the Arafat slated for Friday.

He explained that there were technical and logistic hitches in retrieving their passports and securing buses for the remaining pilgrims to be able to transport them from Medina to Makkah for Arafat.

Mana added: “All Nigerian passports have been retrieved and buses have been arranged to convey the remaining pilgrims from Medina to Makkah today for Arafat on Friday.

“Nobody will miss the Hajj exercise.”

Mana said that the arrangement this year was unique as about 70 per cent of Nigerian pilgrims were transported straight from Nigeria to Madina, to ease transportation problem.

He said the morale of Nigerian pilgrims was high as they were eager to move from Muna and Arafat on Friday.