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
N142.5 million 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.
Culled From The Sun
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