Barely one month to the commencement of airlift of Nigerian pilgrims for the 2025 hajj pilgrimage, a crisis is brewing in the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) as board members have expressed displeasure with the leadership style of the commission?s chairman, Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman.

It was learnt that the aggrieved board members, who also double as commissioners, had written a petition to Vice President Kashim Shettima, accusing the chairman of gross misconduct, violation of procurement regulations and exclusion from activities at the commission.

The petition, sighted by Daily Trust, is coming just a few weeks after NAHCON?s staff union alleged poor welfare; an allegation the commission debunked.

The petition to the vice president was signed by all the board members representing the six geo-political zones and two others representing the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and the Jama?atul Nasril Islam (JNI).

The Vice President?s Office could not be immediately reached to confirm receipt of the petition as Shettima?s spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, neither answered several phone calls nor replied to messages sent to his mobile telephone line by Daily Trust yesterday.

But two of the petitioners confirmed to Daily Trust that the petition was received by the Office of the Vice President.

The signatories are: Professor Muhammad Umaru Ndagi (North-Central), Alhaji Abba K. Jato (North-East), Shaykh Muhammad Bn Uthman (North-West), Hajiya Aishat Obi (South-East), Hajiya Zainab Musa (South-South), Dr Tajudeen Abefe Oladejo (South-West), Professor Adedimeji Mahfouz Adebola (NSCIA) and Professor Musa Inuwa Fodio (JNI).

However, the commission said that all its activities are being carried out according to rules guiding its operations and that no one is being sidelined as alleged.

Professor Usman was appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in August 2024, succeeding Jalal Ahmad Arabi.

The six-page petition, dated March 13, 2025 and titled, ?Deliberate Exclusion from the Oversight Functions,? was said to have been received in the Vice President?s Office on March 14, 2025 and sent to the NAHCON chairman?s office same day.

The board members said though Section 4(1) of the NAHCON Establishment Act, 2006, gives details of all the basic functions of the commission, the commissioners had not been sufficiently carried along in most of its functions as outlined in the section under reference.

The petitioners alleged that they were sidelined by the commission from the pre-hajj visits to Saudi Arabia, the fixing of hajj fare, the selection of tour operators and Saudi service providers, procurement, among other oversight functions.

They alleged that when arrangements were made for a pre-hajj visit to Saudi Arabia on March 18, 2025, it ?would be the first time that Shaykh Muhammad Bn Uthman representing North-West and Dr Tajudeen Abefe Oladejo, representing South-West would be going on pre-hajj visit since the inauguration of the 5th Board of NAHCON. The North-East Zonal representative, Alhaji Abba Jato, who had once gone to perform Umrah on his own, was co-opted to be part of a pre-hajj visit after he had arrived in Saudi Arabia.

?Each time a board member is asked to join the select team for a pre-hajj trip, he/she is left to source for funds to purchase an air ticket and obtain an entry visa from the Royal Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Abuja with no administrative support in all arrangements connected to the trip.

?This is even as pre-hajj visits are supposed to be appropriated for in NAHCON?s annual budget. The reimbursement of all travelling expenses is done only after the members? arrival in Saudi Arabia.?

The aggrieved members further alleged that the failure of the chairman and his executive team to see them as representing several states in a geo-political zone was probably responsible for the ?indifferent disposition towards us.?

?They do not see us beyond our personal names,? they alleged.

They also accused the chairman of financial high-handedness, saying not a single procurement matter had ever been brought before the board since its inauguration over a year ago.

?Fare for 2025 was announced to the public without the knowledge of the 5th board. We had no knowledge of how the fare was arrived at. It was after the fare became public knowledge that a zoom meeting was called for the board to ratify it. This was after we raised an alarm. This, no doubt, is a clear disregard for due process.

?As members of the commission who should be part of the duties specified in Section 4a (i & i), a list of approved tour operators for the 2025 hajj exercise was prepared and released without any input from the board. It was never brought to the board. Some of these breaches that violate relevant sections of the NAHCON 2006 Act amount to utter disregard, not only for the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its laws, but also for this board that was enacted by an ACT of the National Assembly,? the petitioners stated.

They said they were forced by the prevailing circumstances in the commission because ?we have a responsibility to speak out as we collectively believe that our continuous silence would not be golden but a betrayal of not just Allah?s trust, but also of the confidence of the Federal Government of Nigeria as well as our own conscience.?

The eight non-permanent commissioners alleged that the Usman-led leadership had taken them for granted to the extent that ?Our sense of maturity is actually being mistaken for weakness at NAHCON.?

They complained that as zonal board members and those representing NSCIA and the JNI, they have never been considered worthy of representing their zones.

?This is even as those who lack any official mandate or are not on the payroll of NAHCON have always been part of the pre-hajj visits, leaving out zonal representatives and other board members whose oversight functions are mentioned in the Act establishing NAHCON,? they said.

The aggrieved commissioners also alleged that the executive team of NAHCON had always argued that NAHCON Act only allows the board to meet for not more than a maximum of four times annually.

?We have discovered that there?s no place anywhere in the Act establishing NAHCON that mentions the number of times the board should meet in a year.

?It is clearly a matter of policy, not of the establishment Act Section 5 of the Schedule of NAHCON Act under ?Proceedings of the Commission. It further requires the chairman of the commission to oblige a written request for a board meeting represented by not less than five members, and shall be held within 14 days.?

NAHCON staff protest

The petition by the aggrieved board members is coming barely a month after the Association of Senior Civil Servants in Nigeria, NAHCON chapter, had reportedly written a protest letter to the chairman, alleging favoritism and unjust placement of pool officers over the commission?s workers.

The workers said the problems might affect the morale of dedicated NAHCON?s staff and hinder the commission?s efficiency in fulfilling its mandate.

But the NAHCON?s Assistant Director, Information and Publications, Fatima Sanda Usara, had said commission?s operations were guided by regulatory framework and civil service procedures and that the commission recognises the important role of staff unions in advocating employee welfare in establishments all over the world.

Three operators withdraw from 2025 hajj exercise

Meanwhile, three executive members of the Association of Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria (AHOUN), in a joint statement, have announced their withdrawal from the 2025 hajj exercise owing to ?the arm-twisting tactic? of the commission in selecting service providers for them.

The statement was signed by Usman A. Ambursa, CEO of Travel Express Ltd, Abuja; Haruna Isma?il, CEO of An-Noor Air Services and Tours Ltd, Kano and Ikrimah Muhammad, CEO of Positive Trends Travel and Tours Ltd, Kaduna.

They alleged that pilgrims were being maltreated and offered substandard and inhumane services across the Masha?ir, during five days of pilgrimage in Muna, Arafah and Muzdhalifah.

?Innocently, we are never parties to the service providers? selections or the services negotiation, which of course includes the pricing, quality, quantity and timing of the services offering.

?Where is justice in this arrangement? NAHCON does not have a single pilgrim. We have! NAHCON doesn?t know the demands, needs and tastes of our pilgrims. We know! Then, how could NAHCON continue to decide the fate of our clients?

NAHCON as a regulator has no legal basis to create a package and sell to pilgrims by proxy, and we dare challenge the commission to prove these powers in the NAHCON Act.?

In a separate statement, the spokesman of AHOUN, Adamu Hassan Abdullahi, alleged that the commission foisted a Saudi-based service provider on its members despite the company not meeting up to expectation in two past hajj exercises where its members engaged the company?s service.

He said though the company had made a refund to NAHCON for the services it did not render during the two exercises which amounted to 1.173 million Saudi Riyals, its members were yet to get the refund till date.

?AHUON members will not be swayed by NAHCON?s attempts to discredit us through sponsored media articles and blackmail. We possess documentary evidence of the agreements signed between NAHCON and the company, which were executed without duress.

?What happened to the money refunded to tour operators for services not rendered in 2022 and 2023 by the company?,? he said.

Reacting to the allegations, a principal officer at NAHCON, Ahmad Muazu, said the NAHCON Establishment Act of 2006 does not make it a ceremonial overseer nor a passive observer but authority to ?establish and maintain a system of financial control to ensure prudent and effective utilisation of resources.?

?This is not to dismiss the vital role that tour operators play. Their boots-on-the-ground knowledge, logistical networks, and customer-facing services form an indispensable pillar of the hajj ecosystem. But there must be a clear boundary between service provision and regulation as provided by law.

?NAHCON does not and cannot outsource its lawful responsibilities to entities with commercial interests in the very processes they seek to control.

?Let us be clear: transparency is a two-way street. If tour operators are genuinely concerned about fairness and standards, let them come to the table with data, not insinuations; with constructive proposals, not ultimatums; with accountability, not self-serving interests masked as moral outrage.?

On the allegation that the commission was not transparent in fixing the 2025 hajj fares, he said the accusation was dramatic and demonstrated falsehood.

?If there was ever an era of inflated hajj contracts, it existed long before NAHCON?s recent reforms. That was a time when shadowy middlemen brokered deals in smoke-filled rooms, inflating invoices and pocketing kickbacks at the expense of pilgrims.

?It?s a history that remains etched in institutional memory and one that some of today?s critics, ironically, were complicit in,? he stated.

Body speaks on board members allegations

Speaking to Daily Trust on the allegation by members of the board, the commission?s chairman, Professor Abdullahi Usman said, ?There are 19 board members. Four of who are permanent and are responsible for running the daily office routines of the commission. The four are the chairman and commissioners, Policy, Personnel Management and Finance (PPMF) Operations and Planning, Research, Statistics, Information and Library Services. All the other 15 are part time members with advisory roles. They are not responsible for overseeing daily office procedures or procurements. As board members they are required to hold a meeting on a quarterly basis to review actions taken by the commission during that period and to take decisions etc.

?Board members also form part of committees based on their specialties such as establishment committee that oversees staff promotions and other matters, financial and general purpose committee that has people representing the financial sector as members. Some committees are operational-based such as the aviation screening committee that selects air carriers, medical committee, central security committee, that all do their jobs periodically and has a combination of board members and staff in them.

?On procurement, there is the tenders? board that takes decisions on procurement and other financial matters above the chairman?s threshold and the board comprises the three permanent board members and the chairman as demanded by government. Procurement matters are not part of the board?s responsibilities. However, they are involved in planning the commission?s budget. But daily office running and procurement issues within the chairman?s approval limit do not go through the board.

?On the issue of pre-hajj visits, it has been the tradition of the house that board members are selected to join the team on offshore assignments that are fieldworks carried out by staff. The members are included on rotational basis. Staff form bulk of the team because they are the technocrats conducting the operations while board members are represented in the team as part of the decision making body. During the 1st pre-hajj, board members representing North-east and South-east were among the team and were among those that held discussions on selection of service providers. They were among those that visited several service providers in the kingdom. In the second pre hajj visit, board members from South-west and North-west participated.

?The hajj fare was arrived at after negotiations by and submissions by several committees and board members are part of some of these committees. After each committee negotiates and arrives at a price, the total hajj fare is presented to board members before it is announced to the public. The board does not sit down to decide the hajj fare unilaterally but hajj fare is discussed with them.

?Also, board members do not select tour operators; there is a department under Operations,that is saddled with that responsibility.

?Bottom line is that each member is involved in different activities according to their schedule, but cannot form part of all the daily activities of the commission. They are part of policy decision making, not daily activities?. (Daily Trust, excluding headline)

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