ICPC raids NAHCON office, picks director over N90b hajj subsidy funds

Operatives of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on Wednesday raided the headquarters of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) in Abuja, over alleged mismanagement of the N90 billion intervention for the 2024 hajj.

The anti-graft operatives who stormed the Hajj house shut down official activities in some strategic offices, including the office of the chief executive officer, finance and procurement departments, a source told The Guardian.

The source who prefers to be anonymous said the sting operation, which lasted several hours has further brought the commission under public scrutiny on the appropriation of N90 billion subsidy granted for this year’s hajj.

Apparently not satisfied with the available records, the anti-graft agency went away with the commission’s director of procurement for further investigation, our source said.

When contacted, ICPC spokesperson, Demola Bakare, confirmed the visit of operatives of the agency to the Hajj house was on routine investigation.

Although, Bakare was silent over the nature of the investigation, he hinted the raid was necessitated after some officials of the commission refused to honor the ICPC’s invitation for questioning. Responding to inquiry, Bakare said “Yes, we are investigating the National Hajj Commission. We invited some officials who either failed or refused to honour the invitation.

“We therefore paid them a friendly visit. We didn’t shut down the Commission. ICPC operates within the confines of the law, ” Bakare clarified. Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had grilled the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of (NAHCON), Mal. Jalal Ahmad Arabi over the management of the controversial Ngo billion hajj subsidy.

The investigation follows series of petitions filed against NAHCON essentially on alleged poor management of services during 2024, exercise and the utility of Federal Government intervention, the anti-graft agency said. Nevertheless, NAHCON had clarified the doubt on the allegations and further provided record how the federal government intervention was allocated in the last exercise. Addressing world press in Abuja, Arabi said the commission had paid over N1.6 million each on over 50,000 pilgrims and officials to subsidize the high cost of services occasioned by variation on naira to American dollar exchange rate.