Forbidden Truth in the Hajj Scandal

Also published in Daily Trust

Much has been said about the detention and deportation of hundreds of Nigerian female intending pilgrims back to Nigeria by Saudi Arabia after they had arrived in the country to perform Hajj, which provoked the anger of many Nigerians and set Nigeria and Saudi Arabia on a diplomatic collision. However, what is particularly interesting is that, though both parties are aware about the actual reasons behind such measures, neither party is willing to address it out in the open, which makes it a forbidden truth of a sort.

For instance, though the Saudi authorities have often officially stipulated that, female intending pilgrims of certain age bracket shall present male guardians before being allowed into the kingdom, their claim that the measures against those Nigerian women were in response to their failure to provide such male guardians wasn’t actually the reality.

This is because they i.e. the Saudis were already aware that, though such stipulation was basically provided for in Islamic precepts, its enforcement is generally interpreted in the light of the wider Islamic jurisprudential context. Incidentally, after harmonizing all relevant Islamic precepts jurisprudentially, it is generally agreed that the prerequisite of a male guardian for a female traveller is applicable only in circumstances similar to those that had warranted its stipulation in the first place, and that, such circumstances do not include the context in which females travel to Hajj or Umrah nowadays.

The Saudis know all these, which explain why they have hardly if at all enforced this stipulation before. Moreover, the fact that only Nigerian female intending pilgrims were subjected to such treatment confirmed that the Saudis’ official explanation was not the real reason behind such measures, because it is obvious that thousands of female intending pilgrims from other countries are being allowed into the Kingdom despite having no such male guardians.

Equally, on Nigeria’s side, different concerned departments and other stakeholders pretend to be unaware of the reasons behind such measures, and keep beating around the bush, even though they sometimes reluctantly suspect what they call “some violations, which some Nigerians do in Saudi Arabia” as the possible reasons, which they however apparently downplay hence pretend to rule them out as the possible reasons behind such measures.

Anyway, it is obvious that, many Nigerians especially who reside illegally in Saudi Arabia have over the decades acquired a cumulative notoriety as the worst nationality allegedly abusing the sanctity and orderliness of the holy lands. They have been rightly or wrongly viewed by the Saudis as the main cause of many immoral behaviours and crimes in the kingdom’s major cities particularly Mecca, Medina and Jeddah, though there are some other nationalities who falsely claim Nigerian citizenships having illegally got Nigerian passports and arrived in the kingdom as Nigerians.

In any case however, it is obvious that as a result of the sheer shamelessness and audacious recklessness that characterize Nigerians’ peculiar pattern of misbehave in Saudi Arabia, they have been generally stereotyped as the most notorious community in the royal kingdom.

Also, though the crimes and violations they allegedly commit in the kingdom include human trafficking, burglary, shoplifting pick-pocketing, fraud, indiscriminate petty trading and begging, it seems that the notoriety of many Nigerian women who allegedly engage in prostitution is particularly responsible for Nigerians’ image crisis there. And while there are other nationalities who also allegedly engage in it, Nigerian women are particularly notorious in view of the crude way they allegedly conduct their acts, which makes them particularly conspicuous against the background of the Saudi’s highly conservative socio-cultural environment.

Furthermore, one particular irony that makes this phenomenon even more worrisome is the fact that, most of such Nigerian women who allegedly engage in such illicit work in the holy lands come from the most conservative parts of Nigeria, where Muslims constitute the majority and Islamic values substantially define their socio-cultural orientations.

In any case, this is the forbidden truth, which the Saudis apparently shy away from expressly identifying as the real reason behind such measures, due to its sensitivity as well as its legal, diplomatic and moral implications. They have always alluded to such nuisance and encouraged successive Nigerian governments to take appropriate measures in order to arrest the situation.

                                 Some of the deported female intending pilgrims arriving in Nigeria

Meanwhile, their Nigerian counterparts pretend to be unaware of such disgusting phenomena or simply downplay its rampancy or cling to any silly pretext in order to cover up their failure to address it over the decades.

Anyway, such acquired cumulative notoriety by Nigerians in Saudi Arabia has predictably cost Nigeria its respect in the sight of the Saudis, which explains their contemptuous treatment of Nigerians residing or visiting their country. After all, the circumstances surrounding their recent action have highlighted how much they disdain Nigeria and indeed how much they take Nigeria for granted. The undiplomatic treatment they have meted out to the Nigerian ambassador in Riyadh over the issue said it all.

To cap it all also, when, in the peak of the crisis, Nigeria approached their ambassador in Abuja to arrange a high-level meeting between Nigerian delegation led by the Speaker, National Assembly and their Saudi counterparts, the embassy kept procrastinating until it reportedly told the Nigerian delegation that they could travel to Saudi if they wished to meet with Nigerian officials there not Saudi officials, what an insult!

On a BBC Hausa programme last Friday, Sheikh Ibrahim Khalil; a well respected Kano based Islamic cleric who joined the discussion from his base in Cambridge, United Kingdom, rightly observed that the Saudis simply disdained Nigeria and Nigerians, and he kept repeating the need for “kece raini” i.e. to deal with the Saudis severely before things get better.

Likewise, though many other concerned Nigerians are calling on Nigeria to take appropriate retaliatory measures against the Saudis, however little do they know that Nigeria’s diplomatic machinery is too helpless to take any measures likely to restrain the Saudi’s from repeating similar actions in the future much less respect Nigeria and Nigerians. After all, it was such realization that prompted them i.e. the Saudis to take such measures in the first place.

Interestingly enough, perhaps the only advantage that Nigeria can think of using to challenge the Saudis, is the Nigerians’ unparalleled spending spree during Hajj and Umrah, which certainly constitute the largest spending block amongst all the nationalities visiting the kingdom. However, even if Nigeria tries it, the Saudis may not succumb anyway due to the limited impact the measure will have on the country’s macro economy.

Therefore, the only sustainable solution lies in Nigerians' willingness to reform their house and transform their country into politically stable, economically prosperous, and socially peaceful enough to deserve and attract respect from other countries.