First batch of Zamfara pilgrims arrive in Medinah

THE first batch of 468 pilgrims from Zamfara State yesterday arrived King Fahad International Airport, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at about 1:08a.m for this year’s Hajj exercise through Max Air Boeing 747 aircraft.

The pilgrims who left the country on Sunday at 6.p.m through Sultan Abubakar International Airport, Sokoto, were addressed by the state Hajj taskforce reception sub-committee chairman, Alhaji Aminu Adamu Dankwangila, before their departure to the holy land. He urged them to be disciplined throughout their stay in Saudi Arabia.

He also charged them to be good ambassadors of the state and the country at large, urging the pilgrims to exhibit high moral conduct.

Dankwangila, who was the immediate past Commissioner for Culture and Tourism in the last administration in the state, called on them to pray for the sustenance of peace in the country.

He said government had made adequate provision to guarantee absolute welfare and free health care services to all pilgrims while in Saudi Arabia.

“I want to appeal to all of you to be good ambassadors of our dear state, which is the first to implement Sharia legal system in Nigeria, and as such we earned a lot of respect from global Muslims converging in Saudi Arabia for this year’s Hajj exercise,” said Dankwangila.

The former commissioner enjoined the pilgrims to pray for the success of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

The Public Relations Officer of the State Pilgrims Welfare Board, Yakubu Yahaya Mafara, who was part of the group that left the country yesterday, confirmed to The Guardian in a telephone interview that all the pilgrims arrived Medinah safely and were in good health.