No fewer than 150 intending pilgrims to the year's hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia were left stranded at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos following their inability to show evidence of getting a secured travel visa for the journey to the Holy Land.
It had been gathered that the pilgrims, mostly from Ogun, Osun and Oyo states have been defrauded by a travel agent hired to secure travel visa, airfares and accommodation for them during Saudi Arabia.
The pilgrims were expected to visit to Mecca last Friday with Qatar Airways, however the trip was truncated following the failure of the travel agent to show up making use of their passports and travel visas.
The agent (name withheld) was believed to possess raked in about N142.5million from the 150 pilgrims as all of them was said to possess paid N950, 000 for visa processing, airfares and other logistics charges.
When Daily Sun visited the airport, it absolutely was a pitiable sight while the intending pilgrims had converted the departure hall of the international airport into their sleeping apartment.
It had been gathered that Jeddah Airport in Saudi Arabia would officially close today, this means when they failed to visit yesterday night or early today, their dreams of participating in the 2013 hajj exercise to Mecca would have been defeated.
One of many pilgrims, Mr. Abdulwasiu Adeyemi from Abeokuta in Ogun State, who spoke to journalists, said they reached the airport as early as 7am last Friday, but were yet to visit for the hajj in Mecca.
Adeyemi said all of them paid the agent N950,000 for the visa, air ticket and accommodation, but lamented that as early Friday, a number of them couldn't lay hands on international passports containing their visa while the agent failed to show up.
He said the passport was only fond of him and some others yesterday and that they certainly were asked to pay for additional N280,000 for a reunite flight ticket for the exercise.
“I've never had any business cope with the corporation (the travel agent). He told us to be at the airport as early as 10am last Friday for our flight with Qatar Airways and we complied, but unfortunately, our passport and visas weren't fond of us by the agent as he claimed that they certainly were not ready then.”
Another affected pilgrim, Alhaja Muibat Arogunjo, lamented that the agent had turned her pilgrimage in to a thing of sorrow.
Arogunjo said she'd spent all of the profit her savings for the exercise and could no further cough out more funds for a new ticket. But a representative of the agent at the Lagos airport, who declined to say his name, told journalists that the pilgrims weren't defrauded by the company.
“It's the delay in the return of the visas by the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Nigeria that resulted in the inability of the pilgrims to visit at the agreed date,” said the official.
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