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Planes Sent To Bring Home Nigerian Pilgrims Stranded In Saudi
LAGOS, April 5 (AFP)-The governor of Lagos State has ordered two planes to fly to Saudi Arabia to pick up some of the Nigerian Muslims stranded after making the pilgrimage, his office said.
Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu said the Lagos State government would pick up the $120,000 bill for the two trips after weeks of protest over an airline mix-up, which has left more than 2,000 pilgrims in limbo in Saudi Arabia.
The governor has agreed with Saudi Airlines to bring back the hundreds of pilgrims who come from Lagos State. However, pilgrims from other states will have to wait for a response from the federal government, he said.
"We are the only state that has so far taken such a bold step of ensuring the immediate emergency evacuation of pilgrims," said Tinubu's spokesperson, Dele Alake.
Some 12,000 pilgrims were flown to Saudi Arabia last month by Kabo Air and Trans Air, two airlines chartered by the federal government. Following an unexpected rise in the cost of airline fuel in Nigeria, the companies failed to meet their obligations to bring more than 2,000 of the pilgrims back home, airline officials said.
Kabo Airlines managing director Victor Aigbohan said to the newspaper The Punch on Wednesday that the rise in fuel price was to blame. "We have to replan our flights to a cost-effective level," he said.
The government and Kabo Air are in a dispute over who should be responsible for bringing the pilgrims home and who should care for those now stranded in Jeddah.
Alhaji Abdullahi Makasua, a pilgrim who did manage to return from Mecca, told The Punch he was very concerned about the condition of those left behind. "I don't know how those still in Jeddah are coping now," he said.
Every year, millions of Muslims from around the world make the Hajj to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, as one of "five pillars of Islam" along with the profession of faith, prayer, abstinence during Ramadan, and alms-giving to the poor.
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