Celebrations after Pakistan’s forced resignation as NAHCON chairman

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Hajj stakeholders are jubilating after the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Professor Abdullahi Saleh Pakistan, was forced to resign.

Multiple staff of the commission who spoke to this newspaper said Mr Pakistan’s exit would go along way in saving the Hajj commission and the industry at large.

The NAHCON workers expressed their happiness Hajj chief’s exit even though it came after office hours.

Some of them said they would organize walima (party) to thank Allah for the embattled cleric’s exit — saying his one and half year’s stint at the commission was the most controversial and riddled with most corruption allegations.

— Saudi minister’s visit —

Mr Pakistan’s resignation is coming days after Saudi Arabian Minister of Hajj and Umrah, Dr Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabbiah, visited and Nigeria and warned that the kingdom wouldn’t work with Mr Pakistan due to his reported leadership and administration inadequacies.

The Saudi minister who came to Nigeria on Tuesday, 3 February 2026, met the Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, in Abuja.

The closed door meeting of the two ministers, insiders said, centred on the continuous Hajj operation challenges Nigeria has been facing since the assumption of Mr Pakistan, which led the Saudi Hajj and Umrah ministry to form a special team to monitor Nigerian Hajj operations last year.

Impeccable sources told this newspaper as a fallout of the Saudi minister’s visit, Mr Pakistan’s fate was finally sealed at the weekend when President Bola Tinubu reportedly told one of the leading Islamic scholars in the embattled chairman’s sect of the impending decision to sack the country’s top Hajj chief.

The Saudi vote of no-confidence relayed to Nigerian authorities, it was further learned, was the chief reason the visiting Hajj minister refused to visit the NAHCON headquarters after elaborate preparations for reception that included shutting down the office ahead of the visit.

— Forced resignation —

Mr Pakistan, it was further learned, intensified his lobbying techniques, particularly relying on a presidential aide and security officer at the President’s office to stave off the imminent sack.

Some of the people he visited recently include the Chairman of the All Progressives Governors Forum and Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma; APC Singer Dauda Kahuta Rarara, Mr Tinubu’s top aide Ibrahim Masari, and presidential security aide Usman Shugaba.

Multiple sources confirmed that when it became clear that to the two presidential aides that Mr Pakistan’s fate was sealed, they quickly reached out to him, advising him to resign ahead of the announcement of his sack.

One of the sources in the Presidency said, “When the two aides reached out to the President over Pakistan, the President reportedly told them that he would only give him the opportunity to resign. And that was what happened.”

— Legacy of alleged corruption —

Mr Pakistan was appointed by President Tinubu in 2024, and he officially assumed office in October of the same year.

His tenure was characterized by internal crisis, allegations of monumental corruption, arrests and detentions by anti-graft agencies, unprecedented Hajj challenges, among others.

This newspaper reports that Mr Pakistan was interrogated on October 7, 2025 by the EFCC over alleged fraud running into billions of naira. Some of the allegations against him include the alleged squandering of N15 billion on Masha’ir extra bed space, N1.6 billion on NAHCON staff spouses, and N8 billion on Makkah contingency bed spaces during 2025 Hajj.

Others allegations are the extra-budgetary spending of over 300 per cent of his approved budget; N25 billion expended on officials, staff, and board members; N1.4 billion as allowances of committees; and the mismanagement of Madinah bed spaces from 11,000 to 18,000 for 41,000 pilgrims.

Mr Pakistan’s performance has been woeful leading to various problems that marred the 2025 Hajj operation, which forced the Saudi Hajj ministry to establish a special committee to monitor the Nigerian Hajj operation.

Some of the reported challenges, this newspaper learned, include the mismanagement of the Saudi NUSUK digital platform, payment for 14,000 unregistered pilgrims for Masha’ir services leading to the loss of N23 billion, absence of clinics in Madinah and delay in Makkah, failure to pay Saudi accommodation providers and caterers in time, and mismanagement of Madinah bed spaces.

Others include losing traditional Tent A in Mina for the first time in decades, withholding of Hajj airlines funds, stakeholder officials protest in Makkah over BTA cuts.

Since that time, Mr Pakistan has been visiting the anti-graft agency almost every day until his resignation today.

In the last one week, the former NAHCON chairman was also interrogated by the Department of State Services (DSS). Insiders, said Mr Pakistan was with the DSS operatives a day before his removal.

— Jubilation at Hajj House —

The Hajj commission staff said they would continue with the anti-corruption campaign and exposure until all officials involved in the alleged sleeve superintended by Mr Pakistan are sacked and prosecuted.

“After Pakistan, all commissioners, directors, deputy directors and other officials engage in one corruption or the other would be exposed in due course,” one of the staff members said.

Another staff said, they are jubilating because under Mr Pakistan, “NAHCON has became synonymous to corruption. It is has become an embarrassment to say you are a staff of the Hajj commission because of the gamut of (alleged) corruption ongoing in the agency.”

Some of the whistleblowers inside the commission said Mr Pakistan’s sack came hours after he concluded arrangement to bring in DSS officials to come to the commission tomorrow (Tuesday) to confiscate and investigate the mobile phones of all staff accused of leaking information that formed the investigate stories that exposed corruption in the commission.

Two of the staff said, Mr Pakistan, allegedly on the advise of his technical assistant on media, Ahmad Mu’azu had allegedly engaged the services of some DSS officers who would come to NAHCON tomorrow and confiscate our phones and do forensic analysis on them.

“Surprisingly, the same person that planned the DSS invasion of our office and the subsequent confiscation of our telephones was one of us. But he switched camp when he was brought on board by Mr Pakistan,” one of the staff said, vowing that they would continue to expose corruption whenever it happens and irrespective who is the chairman.

— Celebrations in Saudi Arabia —

This newspaper reports Hajj stakeholders in Saudi Arabia that include service providers and local staff have also celebrated Mr Pakistan’s removal as NAHCON chief.

Some of them who spoke to this newspaper Monday night said they are proceeding to the Ka’aba Grand Mosque to perform tawaf to thank Allah for answering their prayers and saving the Hajj industry in Nigeria.

Stakeholders in Saudi Arabia said the resignation has come too late. They said for the first time in the history of the current commission, the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah had to create a “Special Team” for Nigerian pilgrims.

“The team was created due to the operational lapses, managerial inefficiency, poor leadership that marred the Nigerian Hajj Mission. This was the worst Hajj organised by Nigeria in recent past. We are just praying for a change of guard in the Nigerian Hajj Mission,” the various stakeholders in Saudi Arabia who spoke to this newspaper, said.

Reliable sources inside Saudi Arabia said that Mr Pakistan risked being arrested by the kingdom’s security agencies. “There is very likelihood that he (Pakistan) would be arrested when he enters the kingdom again whether as NAHCON chairman or not,” one of the sources who declined being named said.

Insiders alleged that another NAHCON top officials likely to face Mr Pakistan’s fate in the kingdom, is the Commissioner of Finance, Aliyu Abdulrazak.

—Petitions against Pakistan —
On 21 January 2026, all the eleven permanent and non-commissioners of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria have formally written to President Tinubu, demanding the sack Mr Pakistan over alleged gross misconduct and incompetence.

The commissioners said allowing Mr Pakistan to say in office for one additional day would be catastrophic for the planning of 2026 Hajj operation.

Before the board’s vote of no confidence, almost all other Hajj stakeholders have written against Mr Pakistan. They include non-permanent commissioners, NAHCON staff, state pilgrims boards, airlines, private tour operators, among others. For instance, tour operators and state pilgrims boards have written petitions against Mr Pakistan many times.

There are also avalanche of unfavorable reports on 2025 Hajj by the ICPC, EFCC, DSS, NFIU, ONSA, NIA, DMI, DIA, OAGF, and several diplomatic complaints on the entire operation, as well as the investigation of NAHCON chairman by Saudi Nazaha, and Ri’āsat Al-Istikhbārāt Al-‘Āmah, among others.

— Staff seek reversal of 1,549 Hajj officials appointment done without budget, approval —

The NAHCON staff also urged President Tinubu to cancel the appointment of 1,549 Hajj officials arbitrarily did by Mr Pakistan without any budget or presidential approval.

They said Mr Pakistan has concluded plans to spend N15.2 billion on the 1,549 officials he appointed for 2026 Hajj without any approval from President Tinubu.

This newspaper reliably gathered that the data of the 1,549 Hajj officials arbitrarily appointed by Mr Pakistan, and without budget, have been uploaded into the Saudi Arabian NUSUK Masar Hajj platform for visa processing on Sunday ahead of the 8 February 2026 deadline for the 2026 Hajj data capturing and uploading.

The staff said Mr Pakistan has earmarked these billons even though he didn’t submit any budget for the 2026 Hajj to President Tinubu for approval as required by the NAHCON Act.

— Alleged harassment of journalists –

Mr Pakistan’s stint was mired by harassment of non-compromising journalists. On October 7, 2025, he allegedly ordered the arrest of News Point Nigeria’s editor, Farouk Abbas, through the Department of State Services (DSS) over a series of investigative reports exposing corruption in the commission and his alleged disrespect and coordinated attacks against Vice President Kashim Shettima.

This is despite the fact that the Hajj commission has failed to refute any fact contained in all the investigative reports published by this newspaper. Instead, the commission first used inducement gambit but when that failed they resorted to threats and intimidation.

This newspaper reliably uncovered at that time that more journalists and media organizations have been penciled down for the gestapo-style abduction by the DSS on behalf of Mr Pakistan. Their only offense, it was revealed, was their refusal to be compromised into backing down from publishing stories believed to be not favorable to the embattled NAHCON boss.

Top among the journalists include the Editor of 21st Century Chronicle, Nuruddeen M. Abdallah and General Manager of Lumana Radio International, Yakubu Musa Fagge.

The NAHCON chairman had allegedly planned, through the alleged advice of his technical assistant on media and his external media consultant— a retired journalist in Kano – to give them Mr Abbas’ treatment, where they would be abducted by the DSS, brutalized and locked up.

Another top journalist scheduled for the arrest at that time was News Point Nigeria’s editor-in-chief, Abdullateef Sadiq for his refusal to back down despite many promises and threats before and after his editor’s arrest by Pakistan’s handlers.

Other media organizations targeted include the Daily Nigerian, Hajj Reporters, Apex Exclusive, Elanza News, among others for simply daring to publish investigative reports about NAHCON.

— Next NAHCON chairman —

Multiple Hajj stakeholders said Mr Pakistan’s exit has brought to the fore a golden opportunity for the commission to get things right now.

“We have tried a retired administrator and he failed. We have also tried a cleric and he failed too,” one of the stakeholders said.

The consensus among the stakeholders, this newspaper reports, is that NAHCON needs a seasoned and active state pilgrims board executive secretary to man the affairs of the commission going forward.

“What the commission needs now is a competent ES of a state pilgrims board, who can manage both resources and people,” another stakeholder said.

“Hajj is a rigorous system and it needs an energetic and proactive young man with requisite cognate knowledge, experience and managerial skills and acumen to pilot the Hajj commission out of the woods,” a former employee of NAHCON said.

The stakeholders said there are current executive secretaries who posses these qualities and whose current leadership abilities beyond their states have been tested and applauded by majority of stakeholders in the Hajj industry both in Nigeria and in Saudi Arabia.

“I hope and pray that President Tinubu would do the needful by appointing an energetic, tested and trusted state executive secretary, whose leadership impact is being felt by his colleagues and other critical stakeholders in the Hajj ecosystem, as the new NAHCON chairman,” another stakeholder, who didn’t want to be identified said.

Some Muslim clerics who spoke to this newspaper last night said President Tinubu should appoint a neutral young Nigerian with cognate experience in Hajj administration.

“President Tinubu should appoint a neutral and competent Nigerian with no link to any Muslim sect to lead the Hajj commission. Appointing the new chairman from a particular Muslim sect would breed discords and disaffection from other sects,” a religious leader identified as Sheikh Abu Bilal bin Muhammad, said.

The cleric said Hajj administration is a technical and logistic matter that requires competence in administration and logistics. “I am appealing to President Tinubu to save the Hajj industry by appointing a neural and non-partisan Muslim with requisite credentials in Hajj administration. That is what is needed to salvage the situation now,” the scholar said.

Sheikh Muhammad said no single cleric was ever appointed to head the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah since its establishment in 1962. He said this was done because the kingdom’s authorities understood that Hajj operation is about administration, logistics and information technology.

— NAHCON silent on Pakistan’s resignation —

There was no confirmation or denial of Mr Pakistan’s resignation throughout Monday night and early hours of Tuesday when this story eas filed.

All the NAHCON staff who issue statements on behalf of Mr Pakistan couldn’t be reached through their regular telephone numbers. The former chairman’s known telephone lines were also switched off.