Nigeria has warned its pilgrims to refrain from displaying political banners and posters in Muna and Arafat as 2018 Hajj started Sunday. The chairman and chief executive of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad, disclosed this during a pre-Arafat meeting with Nigerian Hajj stakeholders in Makkah.
Over 55,000 Nigerians are among the 1.6 million Muslims from across the world that have converged on the tent city of Muna to perform this year’s Hajj, the fifth pillar of the Islamic faith.
Over the years, state pilgrims officials display political banners in the entrances of their tents. In Arafat and Muna, Nigerian tents are usually adorned with banners of state governors and their First Ladies, as well as other politicians, purportedly wishing their pilgrims successful hajj.
Nigerian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Justice Muhammad Dodo, has urged Nigerian pilgrims to pray for their country. He said Nigeria is facing lots of challenges of insecurity, among others which makes praying for the country, more than expedient.