2023 Hajj: Stakeholders disagree with NAHCON over slashing of Nigerian pilgrims’ days in Madinah – Newstrends
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2023 Hajj: Stakeholders disagree with NAHCON over slashing of Nigerian pilgrims’ days in Madinah

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Chairman, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan

2023 Hajj: Stakeholders disagree with NAHCON over slashing of Nigerian pilgrims’ days in Madinah

Hajj and Umrah stakeholders have refuted claims by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, that the 2023 hajj is the first time that all Nigerian pilgrims are visiting Madinah before Arafat.

Recall that the Hajj commission had introduced a new policy restricting pilgrims’ stay in Madinah to 5 days, saying that the decision was aimed at giving Nigerian pilgrims the opportunity to visit Madina in the first phase or before Arafat.

The commission, in a statement by its Deputy Director (Information and Publications), Mousa Ubandawaki, noted that such an opportunity is the first time in a long history of the Hajj exercise in the country.

But while speaking with DAILY NIGERIAN on Sunday, a tour operator based in Abuja, Rabiu Mohammed, disclosed that records have shown that Nigerian pilgrims in the past visited Madinah before Arafat.

He said: “Previous official hajj reports submitted to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) by NAHCON indicated that during 2015 hajj, 92 percent of Nigerian pilgrims had visited Madinah before Arafat. In 2016, all the Nigerian pilgrims (100 percent) had visited Madinah before Arafat.

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“Also, 99 percent of Nigerian pilgrims visited Madinah in 2017 before moving to Makkah for hajj, while in 2018, only 83 percent of the pilgrims visited Madinah before hajj. In 2019, 98 percent of Nigerian contingents to hajj visited Madinah before Arafat.

“In all these five years – 2015 to 2019 – all the pilgrims spent their full eight days in Madinah, unlike in 2023 where the commission had to slash it to five.”

Speaking on the complaint of overcrowding of Nigerian pilgrims in the City of Madinah, another Hajj and Umrah stakeholder, Aminu Salisu, disagreed with NAHCON, saying that that “overcrowding” in Madinah could never be the factor for the slashing of the Madinah days to five.

According to him, the actual reasons for the slashing of the Madinah days included NAHCON’s alleged delay in processing Nigerian pilgrims’ accommodation at the airport due to the non-availability of bed spaces.

Other factors, he said, are “mismanagement of bed spaces leading to pilgrims staying up to four hours inside buses in front of hotels, thereby disrupting the buses cycle of transporting pilgrims of other countries on schedule; and sending Nigerian pilgrims to wrong hotels causing confusion and traffic gridlock around the hotel areas”.

Mr Salisu said: “It is worthy of note that because of these aforementioned reasons, the Saudi Ministry of Hajj had queried NAHCON three times, and summoned its officials in Madinah to explain this unprecedented anomaly.

“Also, pilgrims from at least three flights were accommodated in low-budget accommodations outside the highbrow Markaziyya which they paid for, thereby triggering protests and complaints from them.

“It was also established that Saudi authorities never dictate to visiting pilgrims the number of days they spend in Madinah.

“The idea of reducing the number of days in Madinah was conceived in one of the meetings when it became apparent that NAHCON’s handling of Nigerian pilgrims in Madinah was capable of disrupting the entire hajj ecosystem in Islam’s second holiest city.”

2023 Hajj: Stakeholders disagree with NAHCON over slashing of Nigerian pilgrims’ days in Madinah

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Cleric allegedly sets wife’s house ablaze following prayer disagreement in Ekiti

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Ekiti State Police Command Spokesman, DSP Sunday Abutu

Cleric allegedly sets wife’s house ablaze following prayer disagreement in Ekiti

An Ekiti-based Islamic cleric, Ahmed Ojo, has been arrested for allegedly setting fire to his wife’s residence in the Egbe Odo area of Isua Ijesa, Ekiti State, due to her refusal to participate in a late-night prayer with him.

According to Punch, the wife, Bosede Afolabi, revealed that the incident occurred on April 27 when her husband returned home and requested they observe a prayer around 11 pm, which she declined due to exhaustion.

Afolabi stated that her refusal angered her husband, leading to a disturbance that prompted her to seek the intervention of neighbors to calm him down.

Despite efforts to explain her fatigue after a stressful day at work, her husband remained unreceptive, and when she sensed his escalating violence, she sought refuge at a neighbor’s residence for the night.

She narrated further, “At about midnight, a girl from our neighbourhood came to knock on the house to inform us that my house was on fire and that it seemed my husband had set the house on fire.

“I and some neighbours rushed to the scene only to see that the whole building had been engulfed in fire. Before we could get help in putting the fire out, the building had been razed.

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“He was later caught and handed over to the police.”

She added that she remarried Ojo after her first husband passed away, and she has been accommodating him since they got married.

When asked if there had been recurring misunderstanding between them, Afolabi said they had no misunderstanding before the incident.

She, however, blamed her husband’s action on the influence of alcohol.

“What I observed that night was that he was drunk, which was why I tried to avoid the escalation of the disagreement that ensued on that fateful day. He often comes home drunk sometimes, but we have not had any serious misunderstanding in the past,” Afolabi noted.

She added that the incident had left her in a devastating situation due to the huge loss it had caused her.

“I have not been myself since the incident happened because of the loss it has caused me. I appeal to Nigerians to come to my aid,” she concluded.

The state’s Police Public Relations Officer, Sunday Abutu, disclosed that the suspect is under investigation.

“The incident happened. The man has been arrested and he is currently undergoing investigation at the state’s CID,” Abutu said.

Cleric allegedly sets wife’s house ablaze following prayer disagreement in Ekiti

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Your husband is not your partner, he is the head – Daddy Freeze tells Nigerian women

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Daddy Freeze

Your husband is not your partner, he is the head – Daddy Freeze tells Nigerian women

Popular media personality Daddy Freeze has sparked controversy by declaring that a husband should not be viewed as a partner, but rather as the head of the household.

In a video shared online, he asserted that this notion is deeply rooted in various religious traditions, including Christianity, Islam, and traditionalist beliefs, as well as across different cultural tribes.

According to Daddy Freeze, women should shift their perspective and recognize their husbands as the authority figures in the home, rather than seeing them as equals or partners.

In the video, the outspoken personality claimed that he would disrupt the aspirations of Nigerians wanting to relocate abroad.

He further asserted that individuals accused of illegal activities have unjustly pointed fingers at him.

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In the video, Daddy Freeze mentioned that certain individuals had pleaded with him in the comments section, urging him not to take any action against Nigerians.

Daddy Freeze added that he was trying to pity Nigerians and not act on his words. He further boasted that the people don’t have an idea of how big he was in Nigeria.

This is coming few weeks after the media personality, who runs an online church, appealed to Pastor Chris to extend his resurrecting power to late celebrities Mohbad, who passed on in 2023, and Mr Ibu, who died recently.

Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, while speaking at the Healing Steam Festival, disclosed that Christ Embassy had raised more than 50 people from the dead in the last year.

Pastor Chris added that people from different countries, both old and young, were resurrected through his ministry.

Your husband is not your partner, he is the head – Daddy Freeze tells Nigerian women

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Landlord arrested for impregnating tenant’s teenage daughter

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Adesina

Landlord arrested for impregnating tenant’s teenage daughter

The Ogun State Police Command said it had arrested a septuagenarian landlord, identified simply as Adesina, for allegedly defiling and impregnating his tenant’s 14-year-old girl (name withheld) at Akegbeyale Street in Ifesowapo Akute, Ifo Local Government Area of the state.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the residents and other tenants were thrown into a state of shock when the septuagenarian suspect was found on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, having sexual intercourse with the 14-year-old girl at about 10:15 pm in the house bathroom.

The minor, according to a police source who was part of the team that arrested the 71-year-old suspect but was not permitted to speak for the command, was said to have made her way to the apartment’s bathroom to take a shower.

Our correspondent learnt that a few seconds later, the landlord was said to have gained entrance into the same bathroom and was believed to be having sexual intercourse with the teenager before he was caught in the act.

After this shocking discovery, some members of the community and other neighbours who witnessed the scene raised the alarm, leading to the arrest of the landlord by the men of the Ajuwon Police Division.

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PUNCH Metro gathered that upon advice by the police and others on the need for the minor to be treated to avoid any infection, the father was said to have taken the 14-year-old girl to the hospital for medical examination.

However, the result of the test was said to have indicated that the minor was about six weeks pregnant.

Confirming the incident on Wednesday, the spokesperson for the state Police Command, Omolola Odutola, told our correspondent the case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, where all parties would be grilled.

“The landlord has been arrested and detained. The father reported that he was caught defiling his 14-year-old daughter in their bathroom in the morning. The teenager was taken to Tamara Hospital in Akute for a medical examination.

“However, the medical report further showed that that wasn’t a first-time act because the test showed that the teenager was already six weeks pregnant. The state CID in Eleweran will soon take up the matter for further investigation,” Odutola stated.

In November 2023, the operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps reportedly apprehended another 76-year-old man, David Ogunsanwo, for allegedly defiling a 16-year-old girl in the Abeokuta area of the state. The teenager was also reportedly five months pregnant.

Landlord arrested for impregnating tenant’s teenage daughter

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