The Nasarawa State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board has stopped two pregnant women from performing the 2024 exercise, its Executive Secretary, Idris Ahmed-Al-Makura, said on Friday in Lafia.
Ahmed-Al-Makura told newsmen that the two women were dropped from the list of 1,760 intending pilgrims because of the new rules governing the exercise.
“It was not all the intending pilgrims that made it to the medical screening. The screening exercise is ongoing and we will conduct it even at the airport.
“We still have 250 people that have not appeared for the screening, so we will continue the checks even at the airport and anyone found wanting will be dropped.
“We are doing all this to put our house in order to avoid embarrassment because if a pregnant woman is caught at the holy land, the punishment is N10 million or three months’ imprisonment,” he added.
Ahmed-Al-Makura further said that the intending pilgrims had faced a lot of challenges due to the increase in the fee for the exercise.
He said that Governor Abdullahi Sule had supported the intending pilgrims in the areas of accommodation and transportation to ease the exercise.
According to him, intending pilgrims from the state would be transported to Saudi Arabia on May 15.
He lauded the efforts of Alhaji Jalal Arabi, Executive Chairman of National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), toward ensuring a smooth exercise, and confirmed that visa and yellow card issues had already been addressed. (NAN).
