No fewer than 150 intending pilgrims to this
year's hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia were left
stranded at the international wing of the
Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos
following their inability to show evidence of
having secured a travel visa for the journey
to the Holy Land.
It was gathered that the pilgrims, mostly from
Ogun, Osun and Oyo states had been defrauded
by a travel agent hired to secure travel visa,
airfares and accommodation for them while in
Saudi Arabia.
The pilgrims were expected to travel to Mecca last
Friday with Qatar Airways, but the trip was
truncated following the failure of the travel agent
to show up with their passports and travel visas.
The agent (name withheld) was believed to have
raked in about N142.5million from the 150 pilgrims
as each of them was said to have paid N950, 000
for visa processing, airfares and other logistics
charges.
When Daily Sun visited the airport, it was a pitiable
sight as the intending pilgrims had converted the
departure hall of the international airport into
their sleeping apartment.
It was gathered that Jeddah Airport in Saudi Arabia
would officially close today, which means if they
failed to travel yesterday night or early today, their
dreams of participating in the 2013 hajj exercise to
Mecca would have been defeated.
One of the pilgrims, Mr. Abdulwasiu Adeyemi from
Abeokuta in Ogun State, who spoke to journalists,
said they arrived at the airport as early as 7am last
Friday, but were yet to travel for the hajj in Mecca.
Adeyemi said each of them paid the agent
N950,000 for the visa, air ticket and
accommodation, but lamented that as at last
Friday, some of them could not lay hands on
international passports containing their visa as the
agent failed to show up.
He said the passport was only given to him and
some others yesterday and that they were asked
to pay additional N280,000 for a return flight ticket
for the exercise.
"I've never had any business deal with this
company (the travel agent). He told us to be at the
airport as early as 10am last Friday for our flight
with Qatar Airways and we complied, but
unfortunately, our passport and visas were not
given to us by the agent as he claimed that they
were not ready then."
Another affected pilgrim, Alhaja Muibat Arogunjo,
lamented that the agent had turned her pilgrimage
into a thing of sorrow .
Arogunjo said she had spent all the money in her
savings for the exercise and could no longer cough
out more funds for a new ticket. But a
representative of the agent at the Lagos airport,
who declined to mention his name, told journalists
that the pilgrims were not defrauded by the
company.
"It is the delay in the return of their visas by the
Saudi Arabian Embassy in Nigeria that led to the
inability of the pilgrims to travel at the agreed
date," said the official.

Allah akbar.......'lol

Femi-fani kayode.time to spew ur usual rubbish....Commentator without sense.lol

What a pity

A`ūdhu
billāhi min ash-shaitāni r-
rajīmi (ﺃﻋﻮﺫ ﺑﺎﻟﻠﻪ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻟﺸﻴﻄﺎﻥ
ﺍﻟﺮﺟﻴﻢ)