Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State and Chairman Nigeria Governors’ Forum has charged Pilgrims to cease the occasion of this year’s hajj to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to pray for unity, peace and prosperity of the country.

The governor gave the charge today (Thursday 30th May, 2024) before the take off of the 5th Batch of the state’s pilgrims from the General Tunde Idiagbon International Airport, Ilorin, popularly know as Ilorin international Airport.

According to the governor, this year’s pilgrims are taking off directly from Ilorin to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a result of the upgrade of Ilorin international Airport.

“You can see that the pilgrims are happy. There is a huge improvement. I would like to thank the Federal Government for the improvement on the airport. The airfield lightning is back and better. Last year, our pilgrims had to fly through Lagos because facilities were not in place. This flight is going directly to Saudi Arabia,” he said. 

“So, once again, I thank President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for looking into the welfare of the pilgrims with all the facilities they put in place for the flights to go smoothly.”

Meanwhile, the 5th Batch from Kwara State consists of 315 Pilgrims including officials and they were onboard Airpeace’s flight Boeing 777-300 christened “Anuli Peggy Onyema”.

The Speaker of the State House of Assembly Rt. Hon. Yakubu Salihu Danladi; Majority Leader Hon. Oba Magaji Abdulkadir; Clerk of the House Alhaji Kareem Ahmed; Special Adviser (Special Duties) Alhaji Abdulrazaq Jiddah and the Chairman State Muslim Welfare Board Prof. Moshood Mahmud Jimba, were among top government functionaries that accompanied the governor.