Nma Ndagana, an Area Pilgrims officer (APO), in Bida Local Government Area, Niger State has been accused of failing to remit millions of naira he received for the intention of pilgrims from his local government.

Daily Trust reported that 150 pilgrims intended to be ordained paid into the APO’s personal account, as he directed them, instead of the Jaiz Bank’s designated account.

Alhaji Umar Maku Lapai, Secretary of the Niger State Pilgrims Welfare Board confirmed that and disclosed that a committee was already established to investigate the allegations. He stated that the complaints were received in batches, and more people continue to make similar complaints.

Also, it was discovered that the APO had registered more intending pilgrims than was allocated to his local government. He only remitted the appropriate amount for his local government.

Lapai said;

“There are two ways to it. For us in the Niger State Pilgrims Welfare Board, we have paid money for the 2, 265 people but we are yet to receive complete visas. It is the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria that is responsible to give us the visas.

“In the case of Bida, the number of pilgrims that he (APO) registered were above the slot he was asked to register. Those that he paid their money to us have been given visas. Those that paid their money to his account were the ones with problems.

“We have set up a committee to find out what actually happened. The committee is still investigating. The affected people are coming in batches. In the first place, we registered 28 complaints. Later more people came and they are still coming.”

Secretary of the Niger State Pilgrims Welfare Board further revealed that if the allegations were found to be true, the official involved would not be allowed to travel, adding that the board would not take responsibility for money paid into individual accounts.

An official of the board also told the publication that the APO had been arrested by the police and was undergoing interrogation.