A female pilgrim from Nigeria, Aishatu Shuiab Balarabe from Ungogo local government area of Kano, has been confirmed dead in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The deceased, who was part of the 2018 Hajj contingent passed on at the King Abdulazeez Hospital, Makka in the late hours of Tuesday after she was referred from NAHCON Clinic along Al-hijira road, Makka.
Confirming the development, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) Commissioner in charge of Health, Dr. Ibrahim Abubakar Kana, said: “She was our patient and we referred her to King Abdulaziz hospital before she died.
We have already captured her on our Electronic Health Medical Records system from patient referred to mortality”.
Executive secretary, Kano State Pilgrims Board, Alh. Mohammad Abba Danbatta, told The Guardian on telephone that the late pilgrim was a mother to one of the board’s staff.
The identity of the pilgrim earlier withheld by NAHCON because the incident was yet to be communicated to the family of the deceased, was released by Danbatta. NAHCON has a practice of awaiting formal information on such incidents from the state concerned before communicating deaths to relations of the deceased.
Meanwhile, NAHCON has denied apportioning any blame to Saudi Arabia government over low number of intending pilgrims from Nigeria for 2018 pilgrimage. In a statement issued yesterday by NAHCON spokesperson, Fatima Sanda Usara, it said there is no iota of truth in the report.
About 55,000 intending pilgrims from Nigeria are expected to join over one million Muslims across the globe for 2018 Islamic pilgrimage at the holy land. The figure is against over 70,000 allotted pilgrims to Nigeria, The Guardian learnt.
