The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee investigating the 2015 Hajj stampede at Mina in Saudi Arabia yesterday summoned Secretaries of 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory,FCT, to appear before it with their official reports on the incident within 72 hours.
Chairman of the Committee Hon. Ibrahim Abdullahi Dutse gave the order yesterday at the investigative hearing on the role of National Hajj Commission of Nigeria ( NAHCON ) in the Operation of Hajj and Umrah especially 2015 operation vis-a-vis the stampede at Mina in Saudi Arabia.
274 Nigerians lost their lives in the stampede while several others sustained injuries and some declared missing. This came just as the Commission alluded the stampede to communication gaps and security lapses and demanded for more measures from the Saudi Arabia Kingdom to prevent future occurrence of the accident.
The chairman of the Committee lamented the absence of the state secretaries at the public hearing despite invitations sent out to them through the Haji Commission and dismissed claims by the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, Mallam Abdullahi Moh’d Mukthar that they were unable to make it to Abuja because of the preparation for the airlift of the pilgrims for this year’s hajj scheduled to commence next week.
According to the chairman,”we are talking about an incident where 274 people lost their lives and here we are those that are important to this public hearing are not here, sincerely speaking am not pleased ,am not happy,but we will continue with our hearing just one or two representatives of the secretaries would have been here with their reports,it will only take two hours and then they go back “Their inputs in getting to the root of this matter are very important, so, their presence here is a must , they must come with their reports to assist our investigation,274 lives,even if it is one, they must appear before this panel within the next three days”.
The Commission’s boss, Mallam Abdullahi stated that six persons lost their lives in the first plane crash of 11th September while six others sustained injuries and that medical team were mobilised to the scene. According to him, “the wounded were taken to the hospital while the dead were buried in accordance with Islamic rites.”
He said that the second incident happened on 24th September 2015 which involved many nationalities and that the Nigeria team rose to the occasion and set up five committees that swung into action immediately.
“The stampede involved many nationalities,when we received the news a meeting was held with the states coordinators which committees such as medical, search and rescue ,information team, and the Condole team,burial team were set up. All the committees had representation from the states,we published more than 15 press statements updating the public about the incident.
“The first challenge we had was that most of the victims were not carrying their identification cards but due to frantic efforts we were able to get accurate data.
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