The Plateau Pilgrims Welfare Board has barred 75 intending pilgrims from travelling to Saudi Arabia for? this year’s Hajj, Alhaji Salisu Musa, the Executive Secretary of the board, has said.
“We have stopped 75 intending pilgrims from taking part in this year’s Hajj for various reasons,'' Musa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos on Thursday, adding that 60 of those affected were women, while 15 were men.
According to him, 20 of the women had no valid Mahram while 10 others are “too old to perform the rigorous exercise''.
“Of the remaining 30, some are pregnant while some have health challenges that require serious attention.
“We won’t want a situation where people that are sick or too weak become a burden to the Hajj officials since they don’t have relations over there,'' he said.
The executive secretary defended the action of the board, saying: “What we are doing is in strict adherence to the laid down rules and regulations of the Saudi Arabian government.
“We also want to avoid a repeat of what had happened some weeks ago, when some women were deported from the Holy Land because that will drag the name of Plateau to the mud.''
Musa appealed to the affected intending pilgrims to regard the situation they found themselves in good faith and as “an act of God''.