BREAKING: You Are Not A Sole Administrator
The Vice President, Kashim Shettima, has warned the Chairman of the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON), Abdullahi Saleh-Usman, to desist from acts that portray him as the sole administrator of the commission.
Naija News reports that Senator Shettima issued the warning in a letter directed to the NAHCON Chairman, Professor Saleh-Usman.
The letter addressed the allegations of violation of procurement process, gross misconduct, sidelining of the commission board members, illegal appointment of aides, among others, against Saleh-Usman.
The letter dated March 17, 2025, with reference number SH/OVP/DCOS/NAHCON, and titled ‘Re-Deliberate Exclusion from the Exercise of Oversight Functions’, was signed by the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Office of the Vice President, Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia.
The Vice President told NAHCON Chairman that the act establishing the commission did not envision a sole administrator role for the chairman.
“The act does not envisage a sole administrator role and each member has a responsibility to the zone or entity he or she represents especially with regards all decisions relating to pilgrims welfare,” Shettima warned.
He noted that a letter of petition sent to him by staff of the commission showed he had failed to address his leadership pattern even after he had acknowledged his lapses.
“Their letter states that they raised these issues at a meeting on February 4th, 2025, where the chairman acknowledged and apologised for the lapses but apparently did nothing to address them going forward,” he read.
The former Governor of Borno State directed Saleh-Usman to read the NAHCON Act to understand the roles of each of the board members of the commission.
“Accordingly, His Excellency the Vice President has asked that your attention be drawn to the provisions of the NAHCON act especially the supplementary provisions governing the proceedings of the commission where all reference to the powers and regulatory responsibility of the commission refers to it as a whole,” the letter added..
He further directed the Chairman “to ensure that the members of the commission are given their due as envisaged by the NAHCON act so that they are not rendered redundant and to ensure that all major decisions of the commission are in compliance with the law.”
According to Daily Nigerian, the letter was a response to a petition by NAHCON board members, written to Shettima, dated March 13, titled ‘Deliberate exclusion from the oversight functions’.
The six-page petition, signed by the eight NAHCON non-permanent commissioners representing six geo-political zones and the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and Jama’atul Nasril Islam, (JNI), accused the Chairman of excluding them from their statutory oversight responsibilities in the commission.
The signatories to the petition are Professor Muhammad Umaru Ndagi (North-Central), Alhaji Abba K. Jato (North East), Shaykh Muhammad Bn Uthman (North West), Hajiya Aishat Obi (South East), Zainab Musa (South-South), Dr Tajudeen Abefe Oladejo (South West), Professor Adedimeji Mahfouz Adebola (NSCIA), and Professor Musa Inuwa Fodio (JNI).
