Ganduje alleges fraud in Hajj operation, demands investigation

The Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, on Friday, asked the Federal Government and National Assemblies, to investigate the alleged fraud in the 2022 Hajj Operation.

“The last 2022 Hajj operation was the worst I ever witnessed during my tenure as the governor of Kano state. It was managed mismanaged, several dishonest attitudes, fraud and anomalies,” the governor said in a statement by his media aide, Abba Anwar.

Mr Ganduje was speaking at Africa House, Government House, Kano, when he received the 2022 Hajj Operation report from the management of Kano Pilgrims Welfare Board, led by the Chairman of the Board, Abdullahi Pakistan, and Executive Secretary of the Board, Abba Danbatta.

“Due to the inefficiency and mismanagement of the National Hajj Commission, many Pilgrims suffered severely without any remorse from the national agency, Mr Ganduje said.

Due to the ‘dishonest attitude’ of the National Commission, “…even at the level of service delivery, National Hajj Commission failed woefully,” the governor added.

“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.

The governor said many pilgrims from Kano were left behind without performing the 2022 Hajj exercise.

“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,” Mr Ganduje complained.

Background

About 1000 intending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia from Kano State missed the 2022 hajj exercise.

The executive secretary of the Kano Pilgrims board, Muhammad Danbatta, in July, blamed it on the National Hajj Commission. He said only 1,075 out of the 2,313 had been airlifted to Saudi Arabia.

He said the NAHCON assigned an Azman Air aircraft with a limited capacity to the state instead of an aircraft with a larger capacity it requested.

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“Azman Air is airlifting only 100 passengers to Saudi Arabia and it took them six hours to land in Jadda instead of four hours. They have so far done five trips but they were unable to convey half of the Kano pilgrims.

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“Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has visited the National Hajj Commission to intervene in the delay, I initially wrote three letters of complaint with regards to the capacity of the Azman Airliner, Mr Danbatta earlier said.

But NAHCON had said they assigned airliners to respective states for the 2022 hajj exercise earlier than scheduled, but some states kicked against their airliners and insisted on other alternatives.

“Had it been Kano started airlifting their pilgrims on schedule, the problems being faced would have been resolved.

“If every state rejects the choice of the Airliner by the National Hajj Commission there will be no guiding rules and the exercise would be rowdy,” Mrs Sanda said in July.