It is becoming glaringly uncertain whether Nigerian intending pilgrims would participate in 2025 Hajj despite series of assurances by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), chairman Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman, findings by this newspaper have shown.

On Monday, the NAHCON chairman has said in a statement that the controversial cancellation of Masha’ir contracts was done by “Saudi authorities,” and that it won’t affect the participation of Nigerian pilgrims in this year’s Hajj, among other claims — that this newspaper investigated and found not to be correct.

In the statement, Mr Usman said, “The contract of the two companies was cancelled by the Saudi authorities themselves. They were reinstated again and they cancelled the contract once more.

“This is the reason I hurriedly travelled to Saudi Arabia to meet with the authorities concerned. A meeting was scheduled yesterday (Sunday) but it could not hold for some reason and it’s shifted to today.

“We want to know why the contract was canceled. On our part, NAHCON did not cancel their contract. We want this disagreement between the companies and the Saudi authority not to affect NAHCON’s arrangement. This is the reason I am meeting with them today. We want them to tell us what is going on.

“If they want to renew the contract, let them do it once and for all. If they want to substitute them, this should be made clear. This would be done instantly to avoid hitches.”

The Hajj commission chairman said the report (of contract cancellation) was aimed at  tarnishing his hard-earned image as an “Islamic scholar and a proven administrator.”

However, investigations by this newspaper — through reviews of official documents and interviews— picked holes in the chairman’s statement.

For instance, there is no single shred of evidence to prove that “Saudi authorities” cancelled the Masha’ir contracts. Aside Mr Usman, there is no single Hajj stakeholder— that include NAHCON staff, NAHCON board members, forum of chief executives of state Muslim pilgrims boards, Nigerian diplomats in Riyadh amd Jeddah, Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah officials, the Mashariq Al-Dhahabiah officials that so far confirm Mr Usman’s claim of contract cancellation by the “Saudi authorities.”

Instead, legal practitioners that spoke to this newspaper in Nigeria and from Saudi Arabia have faulted the NAHCON chairman’s claims of the “Saudi authorities” cancellation of the Masha’ir contracts. They described Mr Usman’s claims as “legally illogical.” A Nigerian lawyer, Mr Muhammad Yousouf Ahmad told one of our reporters that “it is legally impossible for Saudi authorities to cancel a contract they were not a party to. The contract is between a service provider and Nigeria. What Saudi Ministry of Hajj does is to license the service provider after meeting certain criteria. It also regulates the service provider. But it doesn’t cancel contracts arbitrarily as the NAHCON chairman stated.”

Barrister Ahmad said there was no precedence of the “Saudi authorities” canceling contracts as NAHCON chairman wanted Nigerians to believe. “I have spent more than two decades doing litigations related to Hajj, but I have never heard of anytime that the Saudi Ministry of Hajj had cancelled a contract between a Saudi service provider and a sovereign country. Like I said, their functions are limited to licensing and regulations, but not to enter or cancel a contract. Besides, how can someone shaves your head in your absence? It is impossible,” the lawyer said.

Again, this newspaper found out that contrary to the NAHCON chairman’s assurances that Nigerians may not miss Hajj this year, the fate of Nigerian intending pilgrims still hangs in the balance as the commission has only two days left to make payments to service providers so as to enable them secure spaces in Muna, Muzdalifa and Arafat. The Saudis have fixed February 14 as the deadline for all countries to finally secure and pay for spaces in Muna and Arafat. “The February 14 deadline is for all Hajj-participating countries and it’s not going to be changed,” a Nigerian embassy official involved in Hajj preparations told this newspaper in Saudi Arabia.

The February 14 deadline lends credence to the possibility of Nigerian pilgrims missing the Hajj as NAHCON is still stuck with Masha’ir contracts cancellation squabble. “Unless the commission makes payments to the selected service providers who in turn secure and pay for spaces in Muna and Arafat before February 14, the possibility of Nigerians performing this year’s Hajj is nil. That is the reality. The ball is in NAHCON’s court,” the diplomat said.

Another issue uncovered by this newspaper was that contrary to the NAHCON’s chairman denial that he didn’t cancel the contracts, insiders reliably informed this newspaper that even before he traveled to Saudi Arabia on Saturday, the chairman did a secret memo to Vice President Kashim Shettima, informing (actually misleading) him that the selected service provider Mashariq Al-Dhahabiah was blacklisted by Saudi Hajj ministry, and thus recommended another service provider to the VP for approval as a replacement — the blacklisting claim was also found to be false because after signing the contract with NAHCON, the service provider was granted access (by the Saudi Hajj ministry) to NUSUK and E-Tract for payment and visa processing for Nigerian pilgrims. The vice president, it was reliably gathered, gave the NAHCON chairman a “cautionary approval” for the cancellation provided it won’t drag Nigeria into litigation that would lead to loss of money. This further exposed the chairman’s lie of “Saudi authorities” false cancellation of the contract.

Aside the secret memo to the VP, it was uncovered that even the commissioner and few staff members that travelled with him to Saudi Arabia ot the weekend, were not informed of the reason for the travel. Even the NAHCON board which met on Monday and Tuesday at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja were not aware of the cancellation of the contract he electronically did. Like other top management of the commission, they were also not aware of the Saudi trip.

“None of us on the Board of NAHCON knew about it even though we had Board meetings on Monday and Tuesday last week. It was news to all of us,” a board member told this newspaper.

Contrary to claims by the chairman, this newspaper learned from impeccable sources that on his arrival in Saudi Arabia, Mr Usman had first met with the officials of the new service provider he is recommending to replace the Mashariq Al-Dhahabiah with.

Subsequently, the chairman also went to the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, where he met a director in the office of the Deputy Minister of Hajj. The director, it was reliably gathered, cautioned the chairman of the legal implications of what he was trying to do. The Saudi official unequivocally told Mr Usman that he was trying to start a legal battle that would make Nigeria lose huge fortunes aside the higher possibility of missing the 2025 Hajj because of the deadline.

After the unfavorable encounter at the Saudi Hajj ministry, sources at the commission said, the chairman had went ahead and met with the officials of the hired service provider Mashariq Al-Dhahabiah, with a view to allegedly coerce them to “voluntarily withdraw” from the contract.

On Monday night, the chairman met with the commission staff in Makkah where it was resolved that the selected service provider Mashariq Al-Dhahabiah shall be allowed to continue. Surprisingly, on Tuesday morning, the chairman summoned another staff meeting, where he made a u-turn and decided to split the contract 50-50 between the original provider Mashariq Al-Dhahabiah and Ikram Diyafa, a new company he recommended. Ikram Diyafa, it was revealed, is a service provider that has never served African pilgrims, let alone Nigeria’s. It was at that meeting that the NAHCON chairman called a very high level government official in the Presidency by telephone and put him on speaker — in the name of briefing him and also to reconfirm the approval he obtained earlier to spilt the contract into two between the bonafide company and the new one he brought (Diyafa) to the hearing of all in attendance. The staff were aghast that the chairman would put such top level Nigerian official on speaker phone while discussing such sensitive and controversial issue —ostensibly to implicate the top official and blame him for all the confusion arising from the Masha’ir contracts.

As at the time of filing this report, it was not clear whether Mashariq Al-Dhahabiah would accept the contract split or it would go to arbitration. This also fuels the chances of Nigerian pilgrims being subjected to another bout of violence embarrassing outing for four consecutive years.

In the same vein, many staff members of the commission are grumbling over the alleged overbearing influence of some DSS personnel attached to the chairman. One of the DSS details, Ibrahim Abubakar – brought to the commission by former Chairman Jalal Arabi and retained by Mr Usman — was accused of abandoning his protective detail role and dabbles into operational and administrative affairs of the commission. An insider said the DSS detail, allegedly in cahoots with some of his colleagues in the Vice President’s office, are deeply interfering in the administrative activities of the commission.

The official, who declined being identified for fear of victimization, urged the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS) to probe their activities and replace them.

Insiders were appalled by the chairman’s claim of being a “proven administrator,” saying this statement was spewed to cover his glaring deficiencies and alleged nepotistic tendencies. The insiders are worried that NAHCON chairman is being influenced by some inexperienced family members he brought to the commission that includes his biological brother Surajo, who is one of the chairman’s special assistants.

Mr Surajo is accused of misleading the chairman —who is reported to have gross deficiency in reading and writing in English Language — to minute on official memos, a development irking the commission staff members, state pilgrims boards and tour operators.

The alleged nepotism in the commission is fast eroding confidence of both staff and other critical stakeholders, an insider said, underscoring the chairman’s reported appointment of his biological son Aliyu as personal assistant and his nephew Zulyadainj as special assistant.

It is because of the foregoing that some Hajjj stakeholders who confided on this newspaper urged President Bola Tinubu to remove NAHCON supervision from the VP’s to the President’s to save the industry from the grip of the cabal that hijacked the commission.

On the chairman’s claims of being a “proven administrator,” a Hajj stakeholder from Kano described it as “laughable.” He said Professor Usman has never held any public office as an accounting officer. “His stint was simply that of a director at Al-Qalam University in Katsina, and board chairman of Kano pilgrims board.

The stakeholder who requested anonymity for fear of a backlash said, Mr Usman was appointed as pilgrims board chairman late 2019, and there was no Hajj in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, Mr Usman only travelled to Saudi Arabia after Arafat and left behind over 600 Kano pilgrims. The board was sacked in 2023 while they were preparing for Hajj, the source said. “It is therefore expedient to ask Professor Usman is it the post-Arafat Hajj of 2022 that he conducted, or the directorship at Al-Qalam or the part-time chairmanship that qualified him as a ‘proven administrator?,’” the source asked.

Insiders in NAHCON also dismissed the chairman’s claims of administrative prowess. They said if at all he has administrative acumen “why are NAHCON veteran officials quitting? Dr Aliyu Tanko, a veteran Hajj expert has left. Engr Goni, an aviation expert has quit. What of Dr Shehu Makarfi, he engaged and disengaged him but later turned to claim ignorance of his sack? What are they leaving?,” the staff asked.

The chairman’s open squabbles with almost all key stakeholders that include tour operators (as seen in a viral video), state pilgrims boards chief executives, service providers in Saudi Arabia and sooner than later airlines — is a testimony to his lack of administrative skills, the insiders said.

Another veteran Hajj stakeholder has alleged that the chairman has compromised the integrity of office because of selfish interests. The stakeholder accused him of living above his means, saying “who is paying for the luxury hotel bills he has been staying in Abuja in the last couple of months? Is it from his salary and allowances? What of the potsch hotels he stays in Makkah? Can his estacode pay for the over $1000 per night rooms booked in his name?”

The stakeholder said the chairman during his last trip he occupied six rooms, namely 2128, 2101, 2102, 2104, 2704, and 2025 in the Old Hilton Hotel in Makkah. While during his first trip, he occupied Rooms 2115, 2113 and 2114 in Fairmont Hotel in Makkah. All the above mentioned rooms cost about $1000 per night, while the chairman’s estacode is $900 per day. Who is financing this and why?, “ the stakeholder said.

It was also clear that the chairman was confused when he said the “Saudi authorities” cancelled contracts he signed with two service providers. Whereas, the chairman only signed contract with one service provider.

This newspaper reliably gathered that on Tuesday night and the early hours of Wednesday, the chairman had summoned the Ikram Diyafa company to sign the contract (50%) with them. While the chairman and the Diyafa officials were about to sign the contract, a group of young men — reportedly from a family of a top public official in Abuja — stormed the venue and stopped the signing. They said the 50 percent contract must be signed with another company they brought not the Diyafa recommended to the VP by the chairman. The result was endless commotion forcing the meeting to end abruptly without signing the contract.

An Islamic cleric, Ustaz Musa Aliyu Yunus, who spoke to one of our reporters, urged caution, saying “Hajj is a sacred service to the Guests of Allah, and it is despicable for some people to try to convert it into an aperture of self-aggrandizement.”

He said “any attempt by anyone to convert the Guests of Allah into fawns in their greedy Game of Thrones, would no doubt invite the wraths of Allah on them. The officials at levels entrusted with the sacred tasks of organising Hajj must thread with caution,” the cleric warned.

It is therefore abundantly clear that the contract was not cancelled by “Saudi authorities” but by the NAHCON chairman; and that was done without the knowledge of his commissioners nor board members. And that he wanted to split the contract between a credible company selected by NAHCON/States and a shoddy firm he handpicked for obvious reasons. And his “proven administrator” claims couldn’t be substantiated.

All efforts to obtain official reactions from the commission were not successful.