374 Kwara pilgrims depart for Saudi Arabia

Kwara State Government on Wednesday flagged off the 2026 Hajj exercise with the successful airlift of the first batch of 374 pilgrims with two NAHCON officials and one state official to Saudi Arabia.

A total of 1,714 pilgrims from the state will participate in the 2026.

The pilgrims departed the General Tunde Idi-Agbon International Airport, Ilorin, aboard a Max Airline, which took off at about 3pm en route to Madinah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

While bidding the pilgrims farewell, the State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, urged them to conduct themselves well in the holy land and represent the state and Nigeria honourably during their pilgrimage.

“Our message to pilgrims from Kwara State this year centres on the need for them to behave as good representatives and ambassadors of Kwara State in particular and Nigeria in general and to make sure they comply with all the laws and regulations of the host country, the Saudi Arabia,” AbdulRazaq said.

Represented by his Special Adviser and Counselor, Saadu Salaudeen, the Governor urged the intending pilgrims from the state to pray for the peaceful coexistence of the country and the state in particular.

The governor emphasised the need for all pilgrims to make sure they comply with the laws and regulations of Saudi Arabia and to listen to the directives of all the officials.

“We advise all of them to make sure they listen to the directives of Amirul Hajj our father, His Royal Highness the Etsu Tsaragi, who is the Amirul Hajj for this year, leading the delegation and all the officials of the Kwara State Pilgrims Board,” the Governor advised.

AbdulRazaq prayed Allaah to grant all of them a hitch-free Hajj performance and look forward for their return safely to Kwara State.

For his part, the State Amirul Hajj and Etsu Tsaragi, Alhaji Abdullahi Aliyu, promised to look into the well-being of the pilgrims in line with the commitment made with the state government.

“I want to reiterate that when His Excellency announced my appointment as the leader of the delegation from the state, being Amirul Hajj, I made a pledge before him that we are not going to let him down and inshallah we are going to perform the roles that we are assigned to perform. We will make sure that Kwara pilgrims have the best this year and inshallah we are going to take care of their well-being over there,” the Amirul Hajj promised.

Speaking with newsmen, the Executive Secretary of the Board, Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, applauded AbdulRazaq for approving all the requests of the board to ensure adequate care of the pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.

“They will be going to Madinah straight away. We have our officials going with them, not only officials, we have medical doctors and nurses going with them, to be well taken care of.”

“We have contacted our kitchen. They are still there waiting for them to be welcomed and be well fed, inshallah. As you can see from the plane too, we are even going with our local food. I’m sure you saw from the cabin there, we are loading Yam flour, Pando Yam and Gari, to be sure that at least they will not lose the taste of home food,” the Executive Secretary added.