Plateau State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board has denied the report of alleged misconduct and drug peddling by the state pilgrims during the just concluded 2024 Hajj operations in Saudi Arabia.
Concerned Hajj Monitoring Group in a letter addressed to the state governor Barr. Caleb Mutfwang urged him to investigate the alleged misconduct and drug-peddling by Plateau pilgrims to prevent future occurrences.
According to a statement issued in Jos by the board’s information officer, Isma’il Yahaya, “As much as they respect the views and freedom of all civil society groups, the allegation is false and unsubstantiated.”
Isma’il argued that the administration of Governor Caleb Mutfwang has zero tolerance for corruption or any sharp practices.
He pointed out that against this background, the board allowed all stakeholders in the Hajj operations to contribute and make suggestions in line with the vision of ‘The Time is Now’ mantra.
Isma’il further opined, “ Everybody knows that the punishment for drug peddling in Saudi Arabia is death. None of our staff or pilgrims are in detention in the kingdom, as we are all back home safely.”
The information officer also debunked the allegation of selling the government’s slots allocated to the Muslim faithful.
“We are unaware of such transactions as all those who got allocation received it with acknowledgement for future references. The beneficiaries have total control of their allocations, and our role is to verify the authenticity of the forms for documentation”, he added.
He further noted that the board is willing to cooperate with the Hajj monitoring and other civil society groups in the fight against corruption and share any information that would help them discharge their responsibility.
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