Blacklisted Saudi Arabian firm threatens Nigeria over 2026 Hajj contracts, stakeholders call for sanction

In what has been described as an audacious violation of diplomatic and security protocols, a Saudi-based accommodation agent —earlier blacklisted for shortchanging Nigerian pilgrims — Amjad As Salam, is threatening fire and brimstone after losing out in the 2026 Hajj contracts.

The alleged rogue company, Amjad As Salam, had directly sent a letter to the email of Vice President Kashim Shettima— in what is considered as a diplomatic and security breach. The Saudi-based coy runs by an Egyptian national, has also written a letter to the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) — all challenging why it was not patronized by Nigerian pilgrims for the 2026 Hajj.

BLACKLISTED FOR FRAUD AND FORGERY

Findings by this newspaper have shown that Amjad As Salam, is an accommodation agent in Madinah. The company was blacklisted by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) in 2016 after shortchanging Nigerian pilgrims in Madinah. Amjad As Salam and the Eastern Gulf were found to be in fraudulent breach of the accommodation agreement signed with NAHCON in 2016. Among others, they changed the houses inspected, agreed, signed and paid for. The money recovered from them was declared to the Federal Government, and subsequently approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), chaired by former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during President Buhari’s administration, to form parts of the fund used to purchase the NAHCON Headquarters (Hajj House) in Abuja.

Official records showed that In the course of attempting to cover up the agreement breach, both Amjad As Salam and the Eastern Gulf, were involved in forging NAHCON stamp and signature of one of the commission commissioners, and also presented two different agreements in an attempt to alter the original one.

Before their cup was full in 2016, the two companies were found to have violated the contract agreements in 2013, 2014 & 2015. They were also
formally warned in a meeting after the 2015 Hajj but yet decided to continue with the same fraudulent act in 2016. The then no-nonsense chairman decided to deduct the funds (for services not provided) from the company and blacklisted it during the NAHCON third board under Barr. Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad.

Official records reviewed by this newspaper further revealed that Amjad As Salam — dissatisfied with the action taken against him —had dragged NAHCON to a lower and higher courts in Saudi Arabia twice, where he lost the two cases.

RETURN OF AMJAD AS SALAM BY ZIKIRULLAH

However, the two blacklisted companies were surprisingly and against all advice brought back by Mr Zikirullah Kunle Hassan in 2023— despite being blacklisted by NAHCON and dragging the commission to court and lost twice.

As expected, the two blacklisted companies repeated the same fraud by not only changing houses different from that which was in the agreement, but went further to even refused to pay the official service charge to the Hajj commission.

Despite all these breaches, Mr Zikirulalh didn’t reprimand them even though their breaches were documented in the 2023 Hajj Report he personally authored.

This newspaper reliably gathered that on the eve of their sack by President Bola Tinubu, Mr Zikirullah and his three commissioners, “deeply regretted bringing back Amjad As Salam. They realized, albeit very late, that his blacklisting by Barr Mukhtar was purely professional and without any prejudice.”

Amjad As Salam’s shady deals was equally reported in 2025. Investigation by this newspaper have revealed that he was involved in the controversial procurement of the 6,200 “contingency bed spaces” in Makkah that were never used throughout the 2025 Hajj operation, even though they were paid up front by the commission.

This is despite the fact that Amjad As Salam is an accommodation agent in Madinah, therefore he is not allowed by extant regulations lto operate in Makkah.

Further details of the deal revealed that NAHCON secured the accommodation from Amjad As Salam and other companies that were never pre-qualified by the commission as stipulated in its procurement laws.

Proprietor of Amjad As Salam

The companies included Asmanan Hijaz — promoted by one Rukayya and Khadija; Rawaf Golden – promoted by Mustapha; and Amjad As Salam.

These companies were not part of the 13 accommodation providers that applied, screened, pre-qualified and licensed by the Hajj commission in consonance with Section 4 (1) (a) (ii) and (iii) of the NAHCON Act before the Hajj.

The companies rented out 10 houses to the commission with a total bed capacity of 6,200 at 3,000 Saudi riyal each. This translated to 18.6 million Saudi riyal, 4.9 million U.S dollar, and N7.9 billion which was lost.

These houses were never evaluated or approved by the commission before they were taken, in clear violation of NAHCON’s extant procurement regulations. Multiple sources told this newspaper that this issue is part of the cases under investigation by the EFCC. This implies that Amjad As Salam is also under anti-graft commission’s probe.

BREACH OF SECURITY AND DIPLOMATIC PROTOCOLS

A letter dated 25 September 2025, titled “Formal complaint over the removal of Amjad Salam Accommodation Company and Amjad Garra Feeding Company from the 2026 Hajj Operations,” was sent to the email of the vice president, in clear breach of diplomatic and security protocols by a foreign company.

The alleged rogue company claimed in the letter that, “Our facilities have consistently provided exceptional accommodation and feeding exclusively to Nigerian pilgrims earning a track record of excellence without a single adverse incident or official complaint.” This claim was found to be false because he was blacklisted and had taken the country to court in Saudi Arabia where he lost the two cases.

He also claimed that their removal from the 2026 Hajj operation by Nigeria, “has also placed us under severe financial threat, since our facilities have historically been used only by Nigerian pilgrims during Hajj. The consequence of this action Is the imminent collapse of our business.”

This newspaper understands that the development has generated serious concern around the vice president. As a foreign company not registered in Nigeria, Amjad As Salam, according to a retired permanent secretary, would channel his grievances to Nigeria through diplomatic means. “The first thing is to write his complaint — if he has any — to the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Hajj and Umrah. The ministry would then write to Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That is the protocol,” the bureaucrat said.

A retired diplomat who spoke on the condition that his name would not be mentioned for strategic reasons, said Amjad As Salam’s action is a diplomatic and security breach that must be investigated.

“What he did is like a registered tour operator in Kano or Lagos, directly addressing a complaint letter and sending it to the email of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman over a Hajj-related matter. This is scandalous,” the diplomat said.

The diplomat who served in Europe and Middle-East said this security breach must not be allowed to go unpunished. “The Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA), must as a matter of urgency, investigate this apparent security flaw and do the needful,” he said. He said with the rising security challenges in the country, such beaches portend clear cyber threat to the Nigeria’s number two man.

Amjad As Salam, this newspaper has found out, was not doing this alone — he allegedly has local collaborators in both the Hajj commission and the office of the vice president.

This newspaper has compared the tone of Amjad As Salam letter with the previous correspondences he had written. It was discovered that the tone of the VP Shettima’s letter has no Arabic tone compared to the previous ones he wrote— deepening suspicion that the letter was actually authored by a top official in NAHCON Secretariat and sent to the VP’s mail by an aide in Shettima’s office.

Amjad As Salam’s action, sources in Saudi Arabia said, is a gross violation of Saudi Arabia Hajj ministry’s regulations that prohibit Hajj service providers from marketing and signing contracts abroad.

The promoter of Amjad As Salam, it was learned, has been in Nigeria, allegedly bribing some officials to arm-twist the VP to give him the contract.

BPP’S INVOLVEMENT

The BPP had summoned NAHCON after receiving Amjad As Salam letter, dated 27 November 2026, and titled “Formal complaint over the removal of Amjad Salam Accommodation and Amjad Garra feeding company from the 2026 Hajj approved list despite rollover approval from the BPP.”

In the letter, Amjad As Salam complained that they were replaced by two companies, an action that “contradicts the Vice President’s approved rollover of the 2025 contracts — an
approval duly backed by the Bureau of Public Procurement — in which our companies were fully included.”

It said the engagement of the two new companies — Sedra International and Al-Saduw, “that did not participate in last year’s operations and had no prior ranking or established record with NAHCON” also “raises
serious concerns about transparency, fairness, and adherence to procurement standards.”

Contrary to Amjad As Salam’s claims, the two new companies have sterling records in providing premium accommodation and feeding services in Madinah to other countries.

In its reaction, the BPP had fixed a with NAHCON meeting for 8 December 2025, through a letter dated 4 December 2025, with reference number BPP/S.1/SP/25/Vol.III/768.

The BPP’s letter was titled “Re-request for certificate of ‘No Objection’ for engagement of service providers by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) for the 2026/1447 Hajj activities in Saudi Arabia.”

“The Bureau has reviewed your submissions and observed that there is need for a meeting to address grey areas that require immediate attention,” the letter partly said.

Insiders are alleging that the bureau, in conjunction with some officials working for Amjad As Salam, is trying to force the Amjad As Salam company on Nigerian pilgrims. This is despite the glaring fact that there is no any existing contract between the company and the Hajj commission.

STATE PILGRIMS BOARDS’ SOLE RIGHTS TO CHOOSE THEIR SERVICE PROVIDERS

Many insiders who spoke to our reporters were appalled by Amjad As Salam’s reported audacity. He was discarded by the State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Boards, who are the owners of pilgrims, because of his terrible antecedents.

The boards are not under any obligation to patronize the Amjad As Salam company because there is no any existing contract or agreement between them, one of the insiders privy to the matter told this newspaper.

“The BPP’s role is clear. And it doesn’t include imposing a blacklisted company on Nigerian pilgrims. The selection of a service provider to serve Nigerian pilgrims is strictly the mandate of the state pilgrims boards. And they rejected Amjad As Salam because of his fraudulent activities,” one of the top officials in NAHCON said.

The official said what BPP can do is to review the credentials of the companies selected by the state pilgrims boards to ensure that they meet the basic requirements of the Nigerian procurement laws.

“But the BPP has no such power to impose a company rejected by the state pilgrims boards under whatever guise,” the official conversant with the matter said.

Other insiders who spoke to this newspaper but declined being quoted because they have no authorization to speak faulted BPP for entertaining the foreign firm.

They said even the Hajj commission is only involved as a regulator. “NAHCON has no pilgrims. The pilgrims belong to the state pilgrims boards. The states have the sole right to choose companies that would serve their pilgrims,” one of the officials said.

On the issue of procurement, another official faulted the BPP, saying it acted outside its mandate — which are contracts to be funded by public funds. “The Hajj funds are not public or government funds. It is money paid by the pilgrims to the state pilgrims boards to perform Hajj. To this extend, the BPP can’t regulate what is strictly private with zero public funds inside,” the official said.

STAKEHOLDERS URGE SAUDI HAJJ MINISTRY TO CALL AMJAD AS SALAM TO ORDER

Various Hajj stakeholders who spoke to this newspaper have urged the Saudi Hajj ministry to reprimand Amjad As Salam for causing diplomatic faux pas.

They said that his actions are direct assault on the sovereignty of Nigeria. “It is puzzling how a foreign company can insist on offering services to Nigerians when he is not needed and still has the guts to be writing letters to higher authorities. This is ridiculous,” one of them said.

Another one said, “after reviewing the case, I came to the sad conclusions that this Saudi company doesn’t hold our Presidency in high esteem. He ridiculed the office of the second citizen of our country. It is also an insult that the BPP is even entertaining his case. “

However, a stakeholder heaved all the blames on Mr Zikirullah. “It was Mr Zikirullah that brought him back. He did that consciously after learning (from handover notes) that the same company was blacklisted after a thorough process that included taking the matter to the Federal Executive Council. It is sad and look at how the same company is ridiculing our top officials and institutions,” the stakeholder lamented.

A stakeholder who was knowledgeable about the blacklisting of thr company said, “Amjad As Salam had his away under Muhammad Musa Bello administration. He also had his way under Mr Zikirullah, Jalal Ahmad Arabi, and now Mr Pakistan. It was only under Barr Mukhtar that he was paid back in his coins. I recall that after his blacklisting in 2016, the Saudi Hajj ministry had called to thank Nigeria for doing the right thing — which further exposed his bad reputation even in the kingdom.

Others who spoke said the incompetence of the incumbent NAHCON Chairman/CEO, Professor Abdullahi Saleh Pakistan, is responsible for this mess. “You’ll recall that we had a similar scandal over Masha’ir contracts last year. And this is happening again. Keeping Mr Pakistan in office is an open invitation to more damping scandals of international dimension. Nigeria has not seen anything yet,” the official said.

Several attempts by our reporters to obtain reactions from the BPP and NAHCON were unsuccessful. The official telephone numbers of their spokespersons couldn’t be reached as at the time of publishing this story.