HAJJ TRAGEDY AND THE NUMBERS GAME
How many Nigerians died in the stampede in Saudi Arabia?
How many Nigerians actually died in the recent Hajj stampede in Saudi Arabia? The answer is still difficult to fathom as the numbers keep rising. And with the total death toll of pilgrims now put at 2,217, this has also become for Saudi Arabia the biggest Hajj calamity in history, surpassing the 1990 stampede, also in a tunnel at Mina which claimed the lives of 1,426 pilgrims, mainly from Asia.
What that suggests is that the Saudi authorities must get to the roots of what actually happened in Mina at the intersection of streets 204 and 223 leading up to Jamaraat Bridge; ascertain the actually number of fatalities (and their nationalities) and begin to come up with practical solutions to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again. The Nigerian authorities will need to do the same given that this has also become the biggest Hajj tragedy for our country.
According to the last official figure (released almost two weeks ago) from the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), of the 345 Nigerians who were affected in the stampede, 145 had been certified dead, 35 injured, while 165 were yet to be accounted for. The Chargé d’Affaires, Nigerian Em¬bassy in Riyadh, Ambas¬sador Tijjani Hammanjoda and the Consul General to Saudi Arabia, Ambassador Ahmed Umar said those declared missing “cannot be declared dead, since their corpses have not been identified and there are on¬going efforts to locate them or identify their remains among the dead.”
Notwithstanding, the problem is compounded by the fact that many families cannot bring a closure to the tragedy since the fate of their relations who have not been declared officially dead are still unaccounted for. It is our hope that the Nigerian Hajj authorities will
MANY FAMILIES CANNOT BRING A CLOSURE TO THE TRAGEDY SINCE THE FATE OF THEIR RELATIONS, WHO HAVE NOT BEEN DECLARED OFFICIALLY DEAD, ARE STILL UNACCOUNTED FOR
ultimately help to resolve this challenge, especially in light of a recent presidential directive that all our pilgrims be accounted for.
However, as we stated in a recent editorial on this issue, it is important that significant lessons are learned by all the critical stakeholders. “The President has taken note of the assurance by the Government of Saudi Arabia that the catastrophe will be investigated and urges King Salman to ensure a comprehensive and thorough exercise that will identify any flaws in Hajj organisation with a view to avoiding a recurrence of such tragedies during the annual pilgrimage”, said a statement from President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman.
Against the background that less than two weeks before the Mina stampede, 118 pilgrims (including some Nigerians) also lost their lives when a construction crane crashed into Mecca’s Grand Mosque, there is an urgent need to look at the entire Hajj operations holistically. The argument is that to the extent that Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, its planning should also be a global Islamic responsibility rather than being the exclusive preserve of the Saudi authorities.
To be fair, the Saudi authorities have tried to adapt and have actually put in place modern structures to deal with the challenge of the huge population that descend on their country every year for the annual Islamic pilgrimage. But there remain issues that the Hajj authorities and Islamic scholars in our country might also have to consider, including whether indeed those who perform Hajj cannot skip the ritual of stoning the devil which has become risky.
The idea comes against the background that on a yearly basis, death at Mina accounts for most of the fatalities connected with Hajj operations. Therefore, the thinking is that if skipping the ritual does not invalidate the performance of Hajj, there is no reason why such should not be considered. People who go for Hajj should be returning home alive.