This is the first of a three part article detailing the experiences of Nigerian pilgrims during the 2018 Hajj from the perspective of a Kogi State pilgrim.
Friday, July 20th turned out to be a very long day.
I’d received a call the previous evening from an official of the Kogi State Hajj Commission informing me that the airlift of Nigerian pilgrims for Hajj 2018 will commence on Saturday, 21st July 2018 starting with Kogi State. He also notified me of a send-forth reception in honour of Kogi State pilgrims to be hosted by His Excellency, AlhajiYahayaBello at the Government House, Lokoja hence all Kogi pilgrims are to converge there by 9AM the following day for the ceremony before proceeding to the Hajj transit Camp in Abuja to await air-lift.
The Kogi Hajj Commission had a lot to be proud of. It is not every day that Kogi State comes first in the grand scheme of things in the Nigerian federation so; this honour of being chosen by the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON) as the first state to be airlifted to the Holy Land was worth celebrating. After the call, I consulted with a colleague of mine who was also going on the pilgrimage and we decided to head straight to the Abuja Hajj camp rather than attend the send-forth ceremony that may turn out to be anything but brief.
7 AM. Friday, 20th. The wife had spent the previous night packing for my journey. I was good to go luggage-wise but had some loose ends to tie up before leaving for Abuja so I was still pretty chill that morning as I romped around the house in play with my son.
10:30AM. I was still at home. My car refused to start when I went to warm it earlier and I’d summoned my auto mechanic to come take a look. That was around 8:30AM. Two hours later and my auto-mechanic who’d arrived spotlessly clean in his house clothes was getting progressively scruffy and now looked the picture of the typical Nigerian auto-repair man; blackened hands, greasy clothes and all as he battled to fix the problem. He finally identified the problem as a fuel pump failure. It was 11:48AM. I decided immediately to jettison my prior plan of driving the car to Abuja andopted to join my colleague’s car instead. Meanwhile, I was inundated by calls from family and well-wishers bidding me Godspeed and dropping prayer requests for me to make on their behalf during the pilgrimage. An instant spiritual celebrity I’d become.
12:08PM. I finally left home with my wife and son in tow. My mother had thankfully sent her driver to come bail me out when she heard of my car troubles. Mothers are the best,simply. We drove from my apartment to my family residence where I exchanged fond goodbyes with my parents and received with filial gratitude their blessings for the success of my Hajj.
12:55PM. I’m at my colleagues’ house with my wife who’d tagged along to bid me a final spousal goodbye. My colleague was already set to leave when I arrived. She said she’d been informed by the pilgrims who were already in Lokoja that they’d boarded the transport buses that would convey them to the Abuja Hajj Camp. Turned out the buses were only carrying them from the office of the Kogi State Hajj Commission to Lugard House, Lokoja for the send forth ceremony.
13:15PM. We were on our way to Abuja. The journey itself was uneventful safe for a brief stop-over in Lokoja where we picked up a friend of hers who was seeing her off all the way to Abuja.
17:26PM. We are at the FCT Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board Hajj Camp located off Airport road in a small settlement called Bassan-Jiwa. Getting there was quite a hassle. Turning off by the right from the road leading to the main entrance of the NnamdiAzikiwe International Airport, you see a tiny signpost directing you to the Hajj Camp. The sign post apparently has been there for quite a while judging from the faded lettering on it. Following its direction, we drove down a most deplorable road leading to the Camp. We took many a wrong turn and we were only able to access the camp after a commercial motorcyclist helpfully decided to lead our car to the Camp by riding ahead of us. I think the FCT Pilgrims Welfare Board, NAHCON or whoever is in charge of the Abuja Hajj camp need to put some work on that road. That road needs to be upgraded as soon as possible as in its present state, it is an affront to whatever efforts is being put in place to ensure the safety and comfort of pilgrims using Abuja as a transit camp en route the Holy Land.
18:05. The first batch of Kogi State pilgrims who’d stopped over in Lokoja for the send forth ceremony arrived in the luxurious transport buses provided by the Kogi State Hajj Commission. The Camp was already bustling with life. Many of the intending pilgrims were accompanied by family and friends further swelling the camp’s population. Traders were also out in full force making brisk business selling Ihram dresses, keys, waist bags, indelible ink pens and other Hajj essentials at cut-throat prices. Well, Hajj comes once a year so let’s not begrudge them their shares of the Hajj “blessings”.
20:18PM. Inside the camp. In fairness, the interior of the camp is quite appealing. The road network is Grade A, and the camp spotlessly clean. Running water, adequate toilet facilities and neatly paved walkways added to the camp’s overall appeal. Apparently, a lot of work has been done in there by the relevant agencies/authorities. Officials from the Kogi Hajj commission distributed bunk mattresses to the pilgrims in the various halls dotting the camp.
21:50PM. Dinner arrived in the ubiquitous takeaway packs for the pilgrims. I didn’t get any though as I was outside the Camp at the time buying dinner from one of the emergency eateries that’d sprung up to meet the stomach infrastructure needs of the pilgrims and their fare-well wishers.
11:30PM. Officials began distributing visas and International passports to the pilgrims. They’d earlier been collected for use in processing travel visas for the pilgrims. A long exercise it was. I received mine sometime around 1AM by which time my colleague and friends had all left to spend the night in town and I was left alone to enjoy the buzzing welcome of the camp’s mosquitoes. It was an all-night welcome party. My situation was made more piteous by my inability to get one of the bunk mattresses. Turned out they’d mostly been appropriated by the pilgrims and their farewell wishers. In fact, the number of people who were in the camp to wish us farewell far outnumbered the pilgrims!
03:35AM: I finally found an unoccupied mattress in the hall where pilgrims from Kogi West Senatorial District were receiving their documents and I was able to catnap a bit.
04:10AM. I was nudged awake by someone. Said we are to proceed to the immigration Hall for processing. I roused myself from my decidedly uncomfortable slumber and immediately called my colleague with the new information.
04:22AM. I found myself at the head of a long immigration queueand was therefore among the first ten pilgrims processed.Since my single travelling luggage was still in the trunk of my colleague’s car, I scaled through easily. The Immigration check in the Camp was needless. I mean, why subject pilgrims to that hassle when there’s a more thorough immigration check at the airport? Having noted this, I called my colleague again and advised her to head straight to the airport in the morning and not bother interrupting her sleep to come for what was a dud exercise. In my opinion.
05:30AM. Fajr prayer at the camp’s Masjid.
05:50AM. The first busload of pilgrims left the camp for the airport. I’d decided to wait for my brother to come pick me up at the camp’s main entrance so after a while spent conversing with some of my fellow pilgrims, I strolled outside to await his arrival.
06:30AM. My brother arrived. He advised that I forgo going to the Airport immediately as all I will get there is another interminable wait. He suggested we kill time by first getting breakfast. My rumbling stomach immediately agreed and we set off for breakfast in town.
10:18AM. At the Departure Lounge of the NnamdiAzikiwe International Airport. I met my colleague already there. She said she’s been there since 9AM. Immigration and Customs check was already ongoing starting with the women pilgrims. I bid my brother goodbye and settled down for another long wait.
11:30AM. Immigration /custom check for Male pilgrims begins. We were informed by a giant banner that there will be an official flag-off ceremony by NAHCON for the inaugural airlift of Nigerian pilgrims for the 2018 Hajj.
12:20PM. I was approached by a reporter from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) witha camera crew in tow for an interview. I graciously granted his request and the interview was conducted against the backdrop of the giant NAHCON banner.
13:30PM. I‘d mercifully passed through immigration and Customs check unscathed. Some hapless pilgrims weren’t as lucky as they had “contraband” goods like garri, kola nuts, body lotions and even toothpastes seized from them. Make of that what you will. I collected my boarding pass and entered the Departure Hall to find the NAHCON flag-off ceremony has already started. I paid scant attention to it. I was preoccupied with praying my afternoon and mid-afternoon prayers of Zuhr and Asr, combined and shortened. One of the little Neemahof Islam to travelling adherents. God bless the Qasr prayer!
13:52PM. Prayers done, I found a seat in the expansive and fully air-conditioned departure hall to witness the rest of the Flag-off ceremony. I heard a deep rumble from somewhere. Rain? No. It was my stomach! I’m hungry again! God help me. To pass the time, I glanced through my boarding pass and discovered with shock that I was passenger “Saidu/SalehSaniMr” on Max Air Flight number “VM 3001” from Abuja to Madina.That’s not my name! I immediately requested to see the boarding pass of a fellow passenger and discovered that we’d all apparently, being issued identical boarding passes with same names, flight and seat numbers! Max air making a case for efficiency through mass production. Or photocopy.
14:15. Ceremony over, final call for boarding was made. Once again, female pilgrims were allowed to board first. I don’t think there are many feminists going for this year’s Hajj. You know when you know.
14:43PM. On board Max Air’s Boeing 747-300 aircraft. The plane has obviously seen better days but as long as the aviation authorities deems it airworthy, I’m good with it. The Captain made the routine Captain’s address from the cockpit “welcome on board Max Air flight from Abuja to the Prince Muhammad Ibn Abdulazeez International Airport in Madina”bla la bla. A nice spiritual touch though was the Prophet’s (SAW) prayer for travel delivered by the Pilot in perfect Arabic. Other last-minute pre-flights checks, including emergency safety drills for the passengers were performed by the Max Air flight crew. Efficiently.
15:00PM. We have lift off! Max Air’s Boeing 747 flight from Abuja carrying the first batch of Nigerian pilgrims from Kogi State for Hajj 2018 is airborne. Alhamdulilah.
16:08PM. In-flight meal is served by the Max Air stewards. My stomach’s rumbling had reached a crescendo by this point so the meal was a life saver indeed! I remember reading somewhere that food tends to taste bland while travelling in an airplane because of some atmospheric thingy interfering with our taste buds or something. That wasn’t the case here. Max Air’s in-flight meal was delicious to a D. We were served jollof rice (Nigerian jollof rice for emphasis) with corned beef;cupcakes, sweets and fruit juice all followed for dessert and finally, a nice mellow cup of tea to wash it all down. Maybe it was my extreme hunger or my taste buds working overtime while in the air but whatever it was, thumbs up Max Air, that there was some great in-flight catering.
The rest of the flight was uneventful save for some few moments of turbulence which usually act as a signal for the female pilgrims to break into chants of “La baikaAllahumaLabaik”. Also, we were wonderfully entertained by some Igala-speaking women passengers with melodious Islamic songs. Heavenly chorus in the sky.
19:35PM, Nigerian time. 22:35PM, Kingdom of Saudia time. The Pilot announced imminent touch down at the Prince MuhammadIbn AbdulazeezInternational Airport, Madina. I looked out through the plane’s port and could see Madinat elNabawi, beloved city of the Prophet -Peace and Blessing of Allah Be Upon Him- shimmering in the distance like a most priceless gem. Alhamdulillah, I muttered as the airplane began its descent.
23:15PM, Saudi Arabia time. We are in the arrival hall of the Madinaairport. We were greeted on arrival by a posse of Saudi Medical team who administered what I was later informed by a NAHCON medical team member (the NAHCON medical team flew in on the same flight) was oral polio vaccine, and also given antibiotic tablets. The women once more were processed first by Saudi immigration. Looks like feminism is as dead as Dodo during the Hajj, I thought wryly.
I said my Magrib (sunset) and Ishaa prayers in the arrival hall in company with other passengers. Afterwards, I took a seat among those waiting their turn to be processed and stamped into the Kingdom of the sons of Al-Saud for the beginning of my Hajj. I took a long hard look at the long line of people and luggages in front of me and mentally braced myself for another lengthy wait.
Patience, after all, is one of the enduring virtues of the Hajj.
– Din Shehu, a writer and Public Relations practitioner tweets from the handle @dinstots.
