THERE was a shouting match at the Presidential Villa between the Chairman/CEO of the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON), Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman (Pakistan); and Commissioner of Policy, Personnel and Finance (PPMF), Aliu Abdulrazak; Commissioner of Planning, Research, Statistics, Information and Library Services (PRSILS), Professor Abubakar A. Yagawal; and Commissioner of Operations, Prince Anofi Elegushi; after meeting Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa.
The incident happened after 7pm on Friday, when the four top NAHCON officials left the Vice President office – venue of the meeting with Mr Shettima, an eyewitness told this newspaper.
The shouting match started when Mr Pakistan openly accused Messrs Abdulrazak, Yagawal and Elegushi of throwing him under the bus during the meeting with the vice president.
The NAHCON chairman went ahead to accuse the trio of treachery, sabotage and betrayal adding that all the problems afflicting NAHCON were the by-product of their collective decision. Mr Pakistan assured them that he wouldn’t go down alone, they would go down together.
Mr Pakistan, the eyewitness said, furiously accused the three full-time NAHCON commissioners of undermining his authority, lamenting that, “the vice president has literally stripped me of my powers as the chief accounting officer of the commission.”
He said Mr Shettima’s directive that, “henceforth all NAHCON decisions/memos coming to the Vice President’s Office must be approved and signed by the three commissioners and the chief executives of the states is tantamount to passing a vote of no confidence on my capacity to lead the commission.”
When it became clear that Messrs Elegushi, Yagawal and Abdulrazak couldn’t take the chairman’s tantrums anymore, they fired back, the eyewitness said. They accused him of sidelining them, saying he was only implementing policies and ideas dictated to him by some outsiders and family members.
The angry commissioners reminded him how he took decisions reached at their executive meetings to the external cabal and his brother Sirajo Salisu Usman and nephew Abdulmalik Diggi for vetting and final approval. They pointed out to him how his brother and nephew treated official files and appended signature on his behalf.
Mr Shettima summoned the NAHCON chiefs through a letter dated September 4, 2025, with reference number SH/OVP/DCOS/NAHCON, and titled “NAHCON Executive Committee and Stakeholders Meeting with His Excellency the Vice President.”
The meeting was convened “to discuss outcomes from the 2025 Hajj Exercise and matters arising therefrom,” the letter addressed to Mr Pakistan, and signed by Senator Ibrahim Hassah Hadejia, Deputy Chief of Staff to the President (Office of the Vice President), reads in parts.
Presidency sources said Mr Pakistan was placed on a hot seat throughout the meeting. He was single-handedly blamed for all the problems in NAHCON, and during the 2025 Hajj operation by both the Vice President, NAHCON executive commissioners, forum of states chief executives, among others.
The source who was conversant with what transpired at the meeting, but declined being identified because he was not authorized to speak about it added, “it was scandals galore for NAHCON Chairman Pakistan.”
Vice President Shettima’s brutal frankness took all those in attendance by surprise. He said he was offered 40 stakeholder slots during the last Hajj, but flatly turned down the offer without any second thought. “That was when Pakistan was left in the cooler,” the source added.
Another issue was that of name-dropping VP Shettima’s name on every unpopular decision taking by Professor Pakistan.
The commissioners’ anger deepened when the vice president denied knowledge of all the decisions that were taken allegedly at his behest.
Mr Shettima went ahead to inform the NAHCON chairman that all reports by the federal security and anti-graft agencies on 2025 Hajj didn’t favour NAHCON. “The conclusion was that the 2025 Hajj operation was mismanaged, and mired by endless scandals,” the presidential aide said.
Not only that, the report by the PPMF Abdulrazak openly indicted Mr Pakistan when it said that over N3 billion was wasted by the commission on unused bed spaces in Makkah. The finance commissioner’s report also accused Mr Pakistan of financial inefficiency and recklessness.
In their reactions, stakeholders have urged President Tinubu to save the Hajj sector, by sacking Mr Pakistan and rejuvenating the commission.
They suggested that a tested and trusted younger blood, with passion, for the job, and requisite Hajj managerial expertise from the state; who has no link with any religious sect, should be appointed as the new NAHCON chairman. The staff recalled with nostalgia the monumental progress recorded in the commission between 2015 and 2019 when a younger person was appointed from the state as chairman.
Reacting to this development, a senior Izala chief under the leadership of Sheikh Abdullahi Bala Lau, who spoke on the condition that his identity would not be exposed because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Professor Pakistan’s stint at NAHCON is an indictment on the religious body, which he said is blessed with credentialed intellectuals with track records in public service and managerial acumen.
“We are embarrassed by what is going on in NAHCON. We are not happy at all by all the news reports fizzling out from that commission. Our worry is that many people inside and outside the country would think Sheikh Pakistan is the best Izala could produce to lead NAHCON. That is our greatest regret. Invariably, he has succeeded in rubbishing the quality Izala is known for,” the Izala senior official said.
Some of staff of the commission who spoke to this newspaper said the commission has been subjected to ridicule courtesy Mr Pakistan’s incompetence. “This is the first time that NAHCON can’t produce Hajj reports three months after the pilgrimage. If 2025 Hajj was successful as Professor Pakistan is saying through food -is-ready political NGOs and sponsored reports on some newspapers, why can’t he submit a report to validate the claims?” they said.
“It is clear that there are no verifiable data to back up the claims of a successful Hajj, that is why the chairman resorted to financing ‘data boys’ to be spewing laughable propaganda. Facts don’t lie. Let Pakistan release the Hajj report and let the world judge,” the NAHCON officials said.