President BOLA TINUBU has sacked the embattled Executive Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, JALAL ARABI and appointed Professor ABDULLAHI USMAN as his replacement.
The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, AJURI NGELALE, announced the appointment in a statement issued yesterday,shortly after the president departed for France.
The statement noted that the appointment of Professor USMAN, was subject to confirmation by the Senate as he is expected to discharge his duties with integrity, transparency, and utmost fidelity to the nation.
USMAN is a renowned scholar with qualifications from two Islamic centres of excellence—the University of Madinah and Peshawar University, Pakistan and also well-grounded in Hajj operations, having served as the Chairman of the Kano State Pilgrims Board and successfully superintended the operations of the largest quota of state pilgrims in the country.
Recall that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had invited ARABI to answer petitions filed against him, following several petitions received from concerned staff members of NAHCON, and the agency was reported to have uncovered a multi-million-dollar fraud allegedly perpetrated by top officials of NAHCON under ARABI.
