Pilgrims of Sokoto State, whose names are out for first batch flight, are currently putting finishing touches to preparation for their Friday’s flight from Saudi Arabia to Nigeria.
The DEFENDER was on Thursday at the Hijrah Road hotel, which is one of three hotels accommodating the state’s pilgrims, and found activities going on as officials of Flynas weighed luggages of 428 pilgrims to be taken to King Abdulazeez International Airport, Jeddah, for check-in ahead of their arrival Friday.
This newspaoer had Monday reported that Sokoto pilgrims would commence their return flights to Nigeria on Friday August 23 according to schedule of National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).
We gathered in Makkah Thursday that the Sokoto flights, which will be taken by Flynas, once they start, will run unbroken for five days beginning from Friday 23 through Tuesday 27 August doing five batches.
“The first flight will be on Friday to be followed immediately on Saturday by second flight and will continue til Tuesday before breaking on Wednesday and resuming on Thursday till completion,” a pilgrimage official told The DEFENDER on Thursday in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
In the meantime, some of the pilgrims who spoke to The DEFENDER said they were comfortable with the handling of their welfares, medicals and logistics by the Sokoto State Government.
One of them said, “We should give it to Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and the Deputy Governor and Amirul Hajj, Munir Dan Eya, all the successes that we recorded which encouraged us not only to know steps in Hajj rites but also to be able to comply with laws of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for as long as we have been and are going to be here,” he said.
