Hajj 2023: Finally, Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, Enugu, Rivers Send Pilgrims to Saudi
By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem, in Makkah
Twenty four days after the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) and airlines commenced the airlift of pilgrims to Jeddah and Madinah for the commencement of this year’s Hajj exercise, some of the country’s predominantly Christian states have finally contributed to the number of worshippers in the Holy Land.
Over 60,000 Nigerian pilgrims are already in Saudi Arabia for the Hajj exercise but as at Sunday morning, southern states like Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, Enugu and Rivers were yet to contribute any pilgrim to the national figure.
PRNIGERIA had reported on Sunday afternoon that out of the 36 states and FCT, only 30 had airlifted pilgrims while the aforementioned seven states were yet to.
But according to the NAHCON chart that recorded zero for the aforementioned seven states, other Christian-dominated states in the South had pilgrims in the Holy Land already.
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Bayelsa had 60 pilgrims while Delta and Cross River states had 66 each.
According to the chart which was last updated on Saturday, northern states with Christian majority also had a fairly good number pilgrims in the Kingdom. Plateau led with 1,390 pilgrims followed by Taraba with 1,170 and Benue with 240.
While the chart is yet to be updated at the time of filing this report, the NAHCON media office confirmed after PRNIGERIA story on Sunday evening that pilgrims from five of the aforementioned seven states had just been successfully airlifted to the Holy Land.
The five states include Anambra with 16 pilgrims (Eight Males, Eight Females), Ebonyi with 51, (27 Males, 24 Females), Enugu with 14 (11 Males, Three Females), Imo with 131 (99 Males, 32 Females) and Rivers with 35 worshippers (25 Males, 10 Females).
The pilgrims were taken from Port Harcourt enroute Jeddah at 17:25hrs on Sunday by Air Peace flight APK7914.
Other pilgrims on the flight which was the 146th since the airlift started were four additional pilgrims from Cross River and one from Delta as well as 19 NAHCON officials.
