Adamawa Disappointed In State’s Pilgrims For Holding Aircraft Hostage

The Adamawa State government has decried
the attitude of some of the state’s intending
pilgrims for holding an aircraft hostage at the
Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in
Kano State.
The pilgrims reportedly became frustrated,
Saturday, when instead of ferrying them to
Saudi Arabia, the plane instead landed in
Kano.
The pilgrims, perhaps apprehensive that they
could be abandoned in Kano, held the plane
hostage.
However, the Adamawa State Acting
Governor, in a statement by his
spokesperson, Babayola Toungo, on Sunday,
said much as the government sympathises
with the plight of the pilgrims, it finds it
reprehensible for those embarking on a
spiritual journey “to behave in a manner
comparable to children”.
The statement added that the pilgrims, who
held the plane hostage in Kano, were earlier
briefed on the travel arrangement and the
efforts the government is making in
collaboration with the National Hajj
Commission, NAHCON, to ensure that no
pilgrim from Adamawa State is left behind.
It noted that those taken to Kano were
informed that they would be airlifted from the
Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport to
Saudi Arabia via a different aircraft from the
one that flew them from Yola to Kano.
It also said the plane that took them to
Kano was to come back to Yola and pick
about five hundred and eighty more
passengers to Jeddah.
“This was explained to them in no uncertain
words”, the statement said.
Giving reasons for the arrangement, the
Adamawa Government said the Yola
International Airport has no landing capability
for a plane the size of the Boeing 747 in the
night and therefore the need for the plane
that went to Kano to be back in the day.
“By holding the aircraft hostage in Kano, the
pilgrims have unwittingly distorted a carefully
reworked schedule that shall ensure that all
of them are airlifted before the closure of
Saudi airspace”, the government said.
The government said though it is still
working round the clock to make sure all the
intending pilgrims are airlifted, it however
expressed “its disappointment in the
strongest terms possible of the behaviour of
our pilgrims.
“Pilgrimage is supposed to be a spiritual
journey and one is expected to be spiritually
ready for such a trip.
“A pilgrim is supposed to be an epitome of
piety, comportment and orderliness but not
certainly what was displayed in Kano. As
ambassadors of Adamawa State, all are
expected to be embodiment of decency and
decorum”, it said.