The Area Pilgrims Officer, APO, of Bida Local Government Area of Niger state, Nma Ndagana have diverted million of Naira paid into his account by some intending pilgrims for this year’s Hajj.
By this action, the affected victims will not perform this year’s very important spiritual ceremony which every Muslim looks forward to.
About 150 intending pilgrims paid into the APO’s personal bank account as he directed them instead of paying into the official designated account domiciled in the Jaiz Bank.
According to the Secretary of the Niger State Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Umar Maku Lapai, who confirmed the incident, a committee had already been set up to investigate the allegations.
He did not, however, give the number of affected intending pilgrims, explaining that complaints had been received in batches and more people were still coming forward with similar complaints.
He said the number of people registered by the APO was more than the allocation given to his local government and he only remitted for the assigned number of people for his local government.
“There are two ways to it. For us in the Niger State Pilgrims Welfare Board, we have paid money for the 2, 265 people but we are yet to receive complete visas. It is the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria that is responsible to give us the visas.
“In the case of Bida, the number of pilgrims that he (APO) registered were above the slot he was asked to register. Those that he paid their money to us have been given visas. Those that paid their money to his account were the ones with problems.
“We have set up a committee to find out what actually happened. The committee is still investigating. The affected people are coming in batches. In the first place, we registered 28 complaints. Later more people came and they are still coming,” he said.
Lapai also explained that if the allegations were found to be true, the official involved would not be allowed to travel, adding that the board would not take responsibility for money paid into individual accounts.
He, however, could not explain the whereabouts of the officer.