Hajj Stampede: Reps Summon 36 States’ Secretaries

 

The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee investigating the 2015 Hajj stampede at Mina in Saudi Arabia yesterday summoned Secretaries of 36  States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory,FCT, to appear before it with their official reports on the incident within 72 hours.

Chairman of the Committee Hon. Ibrahim Abdullahi Dutse gave the order yesterday at the investigative hearing on the role of National Hajj Commission of Nigeria ( NAHCON ) in the Operation of Hajj and Umrah especially 2015 operation

vis-a-vis the stampede at Mina in Saudi Arabia.

274 Nigerians lost their lives in the stampede while several others sustained injuries and some declared missing.

This came just as the Commission alluded the stampede to communication gaps and security lapses and demanded for more  measures from the Saudi Arabia Kingdom to prevent future occurrence of the accident.

The chairman of the Committee lamented the absence of the state secretaries at the public hearing despite invitations sent out to them through the Haji Commission and dismissed claims by the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, Mallam Abdullahi Moh’d  Mukthar that they were unable to make it to Abuja because of the preparation for the airlift of the pilgrims for this year’s hajj scheduled to commence next week.

According to the chairman,”we are talking about an incident where 274 people  lost their lives and here we are those that are important to this public hearing are not here,  sincerely speaking am not pleased ,am not happy,but we will continue with our hearing  just one or two representatives  of the secretaries would have been here with their reports,it will only take two hours and then they go back “Their inputs in getting to the root of this matter are very important, so, their presence here is a must , they must come with their reports to assist our investigation,274 lives,even if it is one, they must appear before this panel within the next three days”.

The Commission’s boss, Mallam Abdullahi stated that six persons lost their lives in the first plane crash of 11th  September while six  others sustained injuries and that  medical team were mobilised to the scene. According to him, “the wounded were taken  to the hospital while the dead were buried in accordance with Islamic rites.”

He said that the second  incident happened on 24th September 2015 which involved many nationalities and that the Nigeria team rose to the occasion and set up five committees that swung  into action immediately.

“The stampede involved many nationalities,when we received the news a meeting was held with the  states coordinators which committees such  as medical, search  and rescue ,information team, and the Condole team,burial team were set up. All the committees had representation from the  states,we published more than 15 press statements updating the public about the incident.

“The first challenge we had was that most of the victims were not carrying  their identification  cards but due to frantic efforts we were able to get accurate data.