How Nigerians Died In The Hajj Stampede” – Survivor , Prof . Akintola.

 

A new update concerning Nigerians who lost

their lives in the very recent Saudi Arabi Hajj

stampede has emerged as a survivor, identified

as Ishaq Akintola a Professor of Islamic

Eschatology, human rights activist and Director

of Muslim Rights Concern, has spoken on the

tragic incident.

The Professor spoke with Bayo Akinloye of

Punch, revealing that the Saudi authorities have

to pay compensation for the Nigerian lives that

were lost due to the stampede.

Read their conversation below:

As an eyewitness of the tragic stampede in Mina,

what would you say went wrong?

 

What happened was this: there is

usually a system with which pilgrims

enter through the venue on the day

of Jumrah. Jumrah is the day of

stoning the Devil. Thus, when you go

on your route; after stoning the

Devil, you return by taking a detour

which means you don’t take the

same route back. When that system

is followed there will be enough

room for those coming to perform

the same pilgrim’s rite and that

allows for enough room for people

to move without hindrance or

stampede. But on that fateful

Thursday (when the stampede

occurred), September 24; when we

were going to the Jumrah, we found

that the place was overcrowded and

it was quite unusual.

We performed this rite last year; we

did it the year before that and the

road was free. For the past 10 years

there had been no pandemonium;

and no stampede on that road. It

(stampede) used to happen almost

every year in the past, but for the

past 10 years, the Saudi authorities

have been able to control the human

traffic, by creating different routes

for entry and exit of the place. But,

on that fateful day, we found out that

some of those who had thrown their

own stones made a U-turn instead

of moving ahead to take a detour.

They came through the route meant

for entrance and not exit. They came

towards us. They were in a very

large group and the road was not

spacious enough to allow a free flow

of those of us coming to throw

stones at the Devil and those who

had stoned the Devil. The road could

not take those coming and those

going. And I discovered that most of

those who took the wrong way were

Egyptians…

How did you know they were Egyptians?

I knew they were Egyptians because

I heard them speak the Egyptian

dialect of Arabic. And, of course, I

studied in Egypt for five years. I

know the dialect. Knowing that the

road would not contain those of us

going to perform the Hajj rite and

the Egyptians who had already done

theirs, we pleaded with them, we

tried to persuade them to take the

right route to avoid any ugly incident

but they refused; the reason being

that their camp was based close to

the venue of the stoning. And if they

were asked to take the other way

round to their camp, it would take

them a long time to do so. They

forgot that by facing us, they

constituted themselves into a threat

to life — too many lives and their

own lives as well. Even if we had

attempted to go back for them to

pass through, it would have been

impossible because a mass of

pilgrims had built up and we were

pushing one another. The road

became narrower and breathing

became difficult. In the commotion,

the Saudi police after noticing that

the situation was getting out of hand

climbed roofs of buildings and

started splashing cold water on the

crowd so that it could give us some

comfort — because at that point,

people were already tired and

collapsing. They had walked 10km

from Monzabizah to Mina and from

Mina they were walking another

three kilometres to the Jumrah. At

some point, we had to stand still.

We tried to move to one side but it

was impossible to do so as people

coming from behind were pushing

us forward. Consequently, we were

forced to push those in front of us. I

think it was just a few minutes that

my group passed through the

opposing crowds that the stampede

began. I knew it was a tragedy

waiting to happen.

Were there other factors that led to the tragic chaos?

There are other roads usually

dedicated for moving in and out of

the site but unfortunately on that day

those roads were blocked by the

Saudi security agencies for no

obvious reasons. Why those roads

were blocked I cannot explain;

therefore, there was no escape

route. It was just that one way and

those who were facing us had

occupied it. Besides, one major

reason why that horrible stampede

happened was that those who took

the wrong route and disobeyed the

authorities were able to do so

because the Saudi security

authorities became negligent; they

were complacent. The security men

were not at their posts when the

commotion began. Saudi soldiers

and policemen used to be at the

Jumrah to ensure that once pilgrims

have performed the stoning rite, they

cannot use the same route in which

they came in. If the soldiers and

policemen had disallowed those who

had finished stoning the Devil from

using the entry route as the exit, the

stampede would have been avoided.

But the Saudi authorities said Africans, which

included Nigerians, who embarked on the stoning

rite caused the stampede. How true is that?

The Saudi authorities lied by saying

that the African nations, and black

Africans, were responsible for the

stampede. And, I should add that by

African nations, they mean the

blacks; Cameroonians, Nigeriens,

Chadians, Nigerians and others that

caused it. They don’t refer to

Egyptians, Moroccans, Libyans,

Tunisians and others as Africans.

Rather, they call them Arabs. In their

statements, they usually refer to

these countries (Egypt, Morocco,

Libya, and Tunisia) as Arab nations.

And, our camps have always been

separated from those of the camps

of the Arab nations. The Egyptians

were not in the African camp. The

African camp was different; our

location was different. It is still

different today.

To support our hypothesis that this

was what caused the stampede, the

next day after the Saudi authorities

saw the stampede and the

monumental loss of lives and

properties they had caused, they

made sure that they brought so

many security agents as much as

possible to the appropriate points

stopping those who had performed

the rite of stoning the Devil from

returning to their camps through the

route they came in. Therefore, on the

second and third day of stoning the

Devil, there was adequate security

personnel to ensure that people who

were going to stone the Devil were

not blocked or hindered by those

who were returning after having

performed their own rite. Thus, they

did not allow on the second day,

those same Egyptians or people

from other countries to create the

fatal chaos we experienced on the

first day, from using the entrance as

exit route. In spite of the deaths

recorded people still went ahead to

perform their rites the second and

third day and the road was free. I

would say it was laxity on the part of

Saudi security agencies that caused

the stampede.

Will the bodies of those who died be repatriated

to Nigeria?

As far as the Muslim tradition goes,

the dead will be buried in the holy

land. Trying to bring back the

corpses is double trouble for the

dead body. Muslims don’t see

anything special about dead bodies.

The soul has gone back up to Allah

depending on the way a person lived

his life. We are not demanding for

the dead bodies. Anybody who dies

in the holy land, over the years, has

always been buried there. In any

case, Muslims believe that a dead

person should be buried within 48

hours. Hence, we don’t see any

wisdom in demanding for the

repatriation of the corpses. We don’t

see any need for it; and that’s not

part of our demand.