Hundreds of intending pilgrims protested in Kano on Tuesday against the non-allocation of Hajj seats despite having completed their payments.
The banking institution that handled their payment through a savings scheme, Jaiz Bank, as well as the Kano State Pilgrims Board office were both stormed by the demonstrators.
The 284 affected individuals expressed dismay upon learning that, despite their purchase, no seat had been secured for them, noting that some of them had begun their savings plan as early as 2019.
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One of the affected persons, Auwalu Jibrin said, “We are the ones the National Hajj commission asked to open an account with Jaiz Bank and deposit our money there. The state pilgrim board has collected our passports and screened us and now we learnt that we have no allocation.
“We are now left stranded with no any assurance. Jaiz Bank has told us that of course there’s a problem and they are working towards ratifying the problem.”
It was gathered that the names of the aggrieved intending pilgrims had been sent to the state pilgrims’ board and documented no allocation for them because of the limited number of the Hajj seats allocated to states this year.
When contacted, the Executive Secretary of Kano Pilgrim’s Board, Abba Dambatta, said the board is doing all it can to resolve the problem, stressing that there was no allocation this year for those on savings’ scheme, especially those from Jaiz Bank.
He, however, assured that he would go to Abuja immediately to see what could be done to secure allocation for the affected number of intending pilgrims.
PUNCH
