By Abubakar Imam
Since the beginning of the preparations for the forthcoming 2024 Hajj exercise began, yours sincerely has been frequenting the Office of the Kwara State Muslim Pligrims Welfare Board in Ilorin to monitor how services of the Board are rendered “for the love of our people”.
I was there again on Thursday, May 16, 2024, around 6:00pm, which coincided with the visit of Senator Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe. Distinguished Senator Oloriegbe, who is this year’s Kwara State Amirul Haji, was at the premises of the Board for on the spot assessment of situations and services.
He was not there for fun or sight seeing. He was there for real business. This was discerned from how he gave directives to staff members of the Board as regard the quality of services to be offered intending pilgrims in order to avoid a situation where they (pilgrims) would be exposed to unnecessary stress. He did not only give orders but also followed up the directive to ensure immediate implementation.
This much was confirmed to me by one of the intending pilgrims, Mallam Gidado Baba Saleeman, a retired educationist, who expressed the wish that the outstanding medical doctor, who represented the Kwara Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly between 2019 and 2023, should be paying regular visits to the Board for things to move smoothly.
Mallam Saleeman, who did not know who Senator Oloriegbe was prior to when I told him, said that the positive and assertive impacts of the former Majority Leader of the Kwara State House of Assembly, was always greatly felt anytime he came. Mallam Saleeman has turned the place to his second home just for him to get everything right. And so, he is well- informed of what has been transpiring at the premises of the Board at least in the last two weeks.
The Chairman of the Board, Prof. Muhammad Moshood Mahmood Jimba (a man in whom many of the intending pilgrims have a lot of confidence), had told me a day earlier that Senator Oloriegbe has been up and doing in ensuring that this year’s Hajj exercise is hitch-free, rewarding and memorable. Prof. Jimba, who is also the Chairman of the Kwara State Arabic Education Board and Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies, Kwara State University, Malete, explained that the former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health has not been leaving any stone unturned pressing here and there just to ensure that Kwarans going to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for this year’s Hajj conduct the exercise without tears.
Fortunately, many of the staff members of the Board led by its Executive Secretary, Alhaji Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, were also seen working tirelessly. But for “gba temi ni are ti ise olobe ooka” (the anxiety of getting things done before others among intending pilgrims), things would have been much better.
I am, however, particularly impressed with the performance of Mrs Baliqis Idowu Ajibade, who was in charge of the issuance of Identification Cards to intending pilgrims during the earlier part of the day. I saw her doing the job with infectious smiles, exciting humility and visible sense of devotion. Her dispositions to the job evidently reduced the anxiety of the intending pilgrims and their well-wishers who accompanied them to the Hajj Office in the usual elaborate Ilorin style of showing such fraternity.
Two other staff members of the Board, Mr Kamal of the Office of the Executive Secretary and Mr Safiu Agunbiade of the Technical Unit, were also seeing offering one form of assistance or the other to intending pilgrims.
Let me behave to type here again as I remain delighted that Mrs Ajibade and her mentioned colleagues are all from Ilorin Emirate. Their dispositions, if sustained, would go along way in helping to debunk the perilous stereotype that Ilorin people, particularly our women, are indolent.
All said and done, I strongly believe that if stakeholders including the intending pilgrims and the staff members of the Board offer Senator Oloriegbe the deserved cooperation, this year’s Hajj exercise would be peaceful, successful, and positively memorable.
Imam is National Secretary, Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union.
