THE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Professor Abdullahi Saleh Pakistan, has spent over N44.93 billion without President Bola Tinubu’s approval during the 2025 Hajj operation, investigations have shown.
This investigation series is the outcome of weeks-long thorough analysis and review of official financial documents obtained from the Hajj commission that include the 2025 Proposal Hajj Budget, 2025 Approved Hajj Budget, 2025 Hajj Budget Performance, 2025 Hajj Weighing and Flight Manifest, Visa Numbers and Cost of 2023- 2025 Hajj, 2025 Makkah Accommodation Report, 2025 Masha’ir Report, Vouchers, Vote Books, Cashbooks, Financial Statements, among others.
Analysis of the NAHCON-approved onshore and offshore budget for 2025 Hajj, along with its budget performance report, revealed that Mr Pakistan spent approximately $28.08 million (equivalent to N45 billion) during last year’s Hajj operation without the President’s approval.
The illegal expenditures comprise of $7.18 million (about N11.48 billion) extra-budgetary spending on five budget lines; and another $20.90 million (about N33.44 billion) on four items that were never captured in the budget.
This, among other alleged infractions, might be responsible for the call for the sack and vote of no-confidence passed in the NAHCON chairman by all 11 board members of the commission recently. Earlier, state pilgrims board chief executives, private tour operators, airlines, Hajj commission workers, and eight board members have also passed a vote of no-confidence on the embattled chairman.
Insiders said this was one of the major reasons the 2025 Hajj Report is yet to be submitted to President Tinubu more than eight months after the completion of the holy pilgrimage.
The Budget Performance for 2025 Hajj the commission submitted to the Office of the Vice President was “cooked up to mislead and hide the actual extra-expenditure contrary to the Financial Regulations and Presidential Approval,” an official inside the NAHCON chairman’s office privy to the report told this newspaper.
As a result of that, this newspaper gathered that the Office of the Vice President raised many queries to NAHCON over the inconsistencies of the financial report. “The inconsistencies are so messy that the Office of the Vice President is unable to process the report and submit it to the President,” another official conversant with the development said.
N45 Billion Extra-Budgetary Spending Spree
Review of the financial records has shown that the President Tinubu approved $12.9 million for the offshore operation for last year’s pilgrimage, but Pakistan ended up spending $28.08 million against the President’s approval.
The Hajj commission submitted the 2025 budget proposal via a letter dated April 30 2025, with Ref No: NAHCON/AI/17/X/680, and addressed to the Office of the Vice President, seeking approval of $12,953,240.00 and N5,814,133,272.00 as budget for offshore and onshore operations.
This newspaper’s analysis of the official financial records has shown that Mr Pakistan has made extra-budgetary expenditure of N11.48 billion ($7.18 million) just on five budgetary lines 7,9,14,15 and 18.
The records show that the embattled chairman also incurred humungous financial expenditures that were never part of the budget proposal he presented to the President.
A breakdown of the extra-budgetary expenditure of $7,103,633 (N11.48 billion) on five budget lines are: ad hoc committee allowances, budget line 7 ($517,900), national ulama tickets and allowances –budget line 9 ($31,900), Masha’ir package for staff, board members, medical personnel, ulama, etc, budget line 14 ($2,483,683), airfare for staff, board members, committees, etc budget line 15 ($4,070,150), and federal medical team members, budget line 18 ($76,625).
Despite this extra-budgetary expenditure, Mr Pakistan claimed in the 2025 Hajj Budget Performance that he saved $10.43 million on the same five budget items under reference. This outrageous claim couldn’t be substantiated when this newspaper thoroughly verified the expenditure and the number of pilgrims involved.
Not only that, Mr Pakistan spent another $20.90 million (N33.44 billion) on four other items that were never captured in the 2025 budget he submitted for approval to the President.
These illegal unknown expenditures include the subsidy for 404 NAHCON staff spouses ($735,573.34), 6,286 unutilised bed spaces in Makkah ($5,017,075.77), overpayment for 10,976 state pilgrims in Masha’ir ($11,860,405.55), and overpayment for 3,046 tour operator pilgrims in Masha’ir ($3,291,435.43).
Illegal Loans To Service Providers
A top official of the commission, who declined to be identified for fear of victimisation, said Mr Pakistan had also allegedly granted illegal loans to some service providers and tour operators.
“There is an unspecified amount that was given out to some Tour Operators as loans, and also overpayment made to various service providers for feeding, accommodation, transport and airlines,” the top official said.
“For all these payments, there is a need for forensic analysis of the numbers, payments and contracts signed. All treasury receipts for each revenue component should be provided along with statements of account,” the official said.
All this, this newspaper further learned, was arbitrarily executed by Mr Pakistan without any prior approval as stipulated in the public service financial regulations.
EFCC Shocking Discovery
This newspaper reliably gathered from EFCC sources that Mr Pakistan was indicted in the ongoing corruption allegations.
The anti-corruption agency, it was further learned, had received 13 petitions against Mr Pakistan but so far concluded investigations on only four of them.
Sources at the anti-graft agency said the embattled chairman has allegedly embezzled over N25 billion so far. This figure, according to insiders, may rise as the agency continues its investigation.
This newspaper gathered that in the course of the investigation, there was a shouting match between Mr Pakistan and his hitherto powerful biological brother, Mr Sirajo Salisu Usman, who earlier served as deputy director in the chairman’s office at NAHCON.
Mr Pakistan, according to the EFCC sources, was cursing his younger brother Sirajo for allegedly misleading him and landing him in the ongoing financial mess. Mr Sirajo, another source said, fired back accusing Mr Pakistan of alleged hypocrisy and betrayal insisting that all the financial mess was executed by Mr Pakistan’s outright directive.
Another issue was the embattled chairman’s inability to write statements or respond to queries during the investigation. Insiders said the EFCC operatives interrogating him had to bring in an interpreter for Mr Pakistan during interrogation.
Pakistan Votes Millions For Media War
In a desperate move to stop the ongoing corruption investigation and his likely removal from office, Mr Pakistan, according to NAHCON insiders, has been going from pillar to post seeking interventions from prominent and not-so-prominent Nigerians to save him.
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, presidential security aide Usman Shugaba, who reportedly deployed his brother-in law as the chairman’s personal assistant.
Aside from that, the embattled chairman had also voted millions for the creation of two online newspapers, whose major mandate is to whitewash the embattled chairman’s battered ego.
The two online newspapers, Hajj Chronicles and Hajj Gazette were created in the last quarter of last year. Hajj Chronicles is being run by an external media consultant to Mr Pakistan, who was a one-time managing director of a radio station in Kano.
Hajj Chronicles is openly out to defend Mr Pakistan irrespective of the facts on the ground. The people running this pro-Pakistan news outlet have many times assumed the roles of spokespersons to the commission—sometimes writing press statements purportedly on behalf of the commission— with the commission leadership looking the other way.
Hajj Chronicles left no stone unturned in justifying its mandate by publicly attacking and threatening newspaper editors and publishers for daring to publish investigative stories that are considered unfavourable to Mr Pakistan.
The second news outlet founded by Mr Pakistan is the Hajj Gazette, which began operations in mid-December 2025. However, the newspaper has named Mr Pakistan as its “Man of the Year” less than two weeks after its debut.
Like its sister publication, Hajj Gazette is out to burnish the embattled image of Mr Pakistan at all costs. The newspaper attacks Mr Pakistan’s imaginary and real enemies from inside and outside the commission.
Hajj Gazette has recently published a report lambasting the NAHCON Commissioner of Operations, Mr Anofi Elegushi.
Insiders said Hajj Gazette is being run directly by the media unit domiciled in Mr Pakistan’s office. “It is a well-oiled attack dog at the beck and call of the NAHCON chairman,” one of the officials in the Hajj commission told this newspaper.
Aside from these two unregistered online newspapers, there are dozens other unregistered civil society organisations, bloggers and social media influencers who are on Mr Pakistan’s payroll.
These bloggers and other attack dogs popularly known as ‘sojojin baka,’ like the two online newspapers, their method is never to counter the allegations raised in the investigative stories; rather, they simply launch personal attacks on any journalist or media organisation that publishes any report they deemed unfavorable to Mr Pakistan.
Pakistan Dangerous To Hajj Operation – Commissioner
Pakistan’s continuous presence at the helm of the Hajj commission would cripple Hajj operations in Nigeria, Alhaji Abba Jato, a NAHCON board member, representing the North-East, said.
In a recent interview with Lumana Radio International, monitored in Abuja, Mr Jato said Mr Pakistan lacks any administrative requisites to run the Hajj commission.
The board member said the embattled chairman’s refusal to go by the books public service rules and financial regulations in running the affairs of the commission was the chief reason they passed a vote of no confidence in him and requested President Tinubu to sack him.
The commissioner explained that they have nothing personal against Mr Pakistan. “All the 11 commissioners signed the vote of no-confidence letter to President Tinubu. This goes to show how terrible Professor Pakistan is as a leader.
There are professors among the commissioners. We also have Islamic scholars among us representing Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI) and the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) — the apex Islamic body in the country,” Mr Jato said.
Mr Jato said Mr Pakistan “spends money anyhow without recourse to the NAHCON-approved budget, board resolutions, financial regulations or public service rules. He is operating the commission like a fiefdom.”
The board member said in the last one and a half years, they have tried all available options to make Mr Pakistan do the right thing, but to no avail. He said they took the case to Vice President Kashim Shettima, but Mr Pakistan refused to change despite the VP’s many interventions.
Extra-Budgetary Spending Is Gross Misconduct
Financial experts and top bureaucrats who spoke to this newspaper described the NAHCON chief’s illegal expenditure as gross misconduct – that must trigger investigation, prosecution and recovery by the anti-graft agencies.
One of the financial experts said, the NAHCON expenditure requires “vouchers, vote books, cashbooks and financial statements to attain the actual figures.”
He said, “Those responsible (for cooking up the budget performance report should be held accountable for this financial recklessness, falsification of figures and lies.”
There was no immediate comments for the story from Professor Pakistan as at the time of publishing this report. All efforts to reach him were not successful. And the Hajj commission didn’t respond to the vote of no-confidence passed in the chairman by the 11 board members.
However, the embattled chairman’s attack dogs had accused the entire board of selfishness, greed and envy, even though the board is made up of institutional representatives and Islamic scholars with unblemished records.
The signatories to the vote of no-confidence include the three permanent commissioners: Professor Abubakar A. Yagawal (Planning, Research, Statistics, Information & Library Services), Prince Anofi Elegushi (Operations, Inspectorate and Licensing), and Prince Aliu Abdulrazaq (Policy, Personnel, Management & Finance).
The six other non-permanent commissioners representing the six geographical zones are: Prof. Muhammad Umaru Ndagi (North-Central), Alhaji Abba Jato Kala (North-East), Sheikh Muhammad Bin Uthman (North-West), Dr Tajudeen Abefe Oladejo (South-West), Hajia Aishat Obi Ahmed (South-East), and Hajia Zainab Musa (South-South).
The two other non-permanent commissioners representing stakeholders are: Professor Musa Inuwa Fodio (Jama’atul Nasril Islam —JNI), and Professor Mahfouz A. Adedimeji (Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA).