First batch of Kano pilgrims return home

Pilgrims arriving Nigeria from Saudi Arabia

The first batch of 499 pilgrims from Kano state have returned home after performing the 2016 Hajj in Saudi Arabia.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the pilgrims, on board a Max Airline Boeing 747 aircraft, landed at Malam Aminu Kano International Airport around 2 a.m. on Saturday.

The pilgrims, who, were in good health, were later transported in buses from the airport to the Hajj camp.

Alhaji Nuhu Badamasi, Public Relations Officer, Kano state Pilgrims Welfare Board, told NAN in a telephone interview, that the second batch of pilgrims from the state were expected to leave Mecca around 4 p.m. for Jeddah.

“The second batch of our pilgrims will leave Mecca for Jeddah around 4 p.m. Saudi Arabian time where they will be screened for their transportation to Nigeria”, he said.

Badamasi said the board had made adequate arrangement to ensure that transportation of the pilgrims back home was hitch-free, adding that no pilgrim would be given preference.

“It is agreed that no pilgrim will be given preference during the return airlift.

“Those (pilgrims) who came with the first flight will return in the first flight,” he said, adding that transportation of pilgrims from the state to Nigeria would last for two weeks.

NAN reports that a total of 5,808 pilgrims from Kano state performed the 2016 Hajj.

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