By Mustapha Usman
From Mecca
The Saudi Arabian Police has arrested a Nigerian pilgrim from Adamawa State for hitting its officer with an iron rod.
The Nigerian Ambassador in Saudi Arabia, Isa Dodo, confirmed the arrest in an interview with newsmen in Mina, Makkah on Wednesday.
Mr Dodo pointed out that the incident occurred recently in Madinah when the policemen on duty were trying to control the crowd that came to visit the symbolic Bakiyyacemetery.
According to Mr Dodo, when the policeman pushed the pilgrim for violating their crowd-control code, the pilgrim, out of frustration, swooped on an iron rod placed nearby and hit the police in the head.
Mr Dodo added that the police officers swiftly nabbed the pilgrim, whose identity was not revealed and took him to their station.
“After the Nigerian Hajj officials were informed of the incident, they rushed to the police station and found that the pilgrim was taken to psychiatric for investigation.
“The doctors’ report revealed that the pilgrim has a mental disorder and was instantly released.
“We have now put him in intense scrutiny in order to avoid recurrence. We have also ordered that he should be airlifted back home in the first available flight when the exercise begins after Hajj,” he said.
The ambassador, however, commended the Nigerian contingents for their good conduct during the spiritual exercise.
He noted that all the efforts put by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON in terms of behaviour and conduct of the pilgrims during the pilgrimage had paid off.
He also thanked the authorities of Saudi Arabia for excellent preparations which led to the success of this year’s Hajj.
