President MUHAMMADU BUHARI has ordered the National Hajj Commission and the Nigerian Embassy in Saudi Arabia to urgently account for all Nigerian pilgrims in the holy land.

President MUHAMMADU BUHARI has ordered the National Hajj Commission and the Nigerian Embassy in Saudi Arabia to urgently account for all Nigerian pilgrims in the holy land.
The order which was contained in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, GARBA SHEHU, followed the stampede in the holy city of Mecca. SHEHU explained that the presidential order was necessitated by the conflicting reports on the number of Nigerians who died and suffered injuries in the disaster. Meanwhile; the number of Nigerians reported to have died in the Hajj stampede in Saudi Arabia has been put at fifty-four.
The Chairman of the National Hajj Commission, Alhaji ABDULLAHI MUKHTAR, confirmed the casualty figure for Nigeria at a news conference in Saudi Arabia earlier today. Alhaji MOHAMMED said forty-two of the dead were sponsored by pilgrims’ welfare boards of various states, while twelve had embarked on private pilgrimage.
Meanwhile; the Chairman of Taraba State Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji HAMMAN-ADAMA TUKUR, has said many pilgrims from the state are still missing. The stampede during the last Hajj rite in Mina on Thursday last week claimed the lives of seven hundred and seventeen Muslim pilgrims, with Iran accounting for the highest casualty of more than one hundred and thirty deaths.