Attahiru Jega's Brother, Others Die In Mecca Stampede

Justice Abdulkadir Jega, the brother of the former
chairman of the Independent National Electoral
Commission, Attahiru Jega, has died in the stampede in
Mecca.
Еhe death toll from the stampede has risen to 769.
Vanguard reports that the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN),
Justice Mahmud Mohammed, made a statement on
Saturday, September 26, in which he disclosed that two
Court of Appeal Justices were among those who died
during the stampede that led to the death of over 700
pilgrims at Mina.
The CJN gave the names of the deceased justices as
Abdulkadir Jega who was the Presiding Justice of the
Abuja Division of the appellate court and Justice Musa
Hassan Alkali of the Ilorin Division.
Justice Mohammed expressed condolences to the
families of the deceased, the Court of Appeal, the
Judiciary and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Samaila Yombe, the deputy governor of Kebbi state,
confirming the death of Abdulkadir Jega, adding that the
judge was caught up in the tragedy while on his way to
perform the ritual of stoning.
Yombe stated that the Amirul Hajj and Emir of Argungu,
Samaila Mera, speaker of the State House of Assembly
and his deputy, Governor Atiku Bagudu’s family were
among pilgrims who survived the incident.
Speaking about the tragedy, the deputy governor insisted
that the incident at Jamra was not a stampede.
“Whoever said it was a stampede either does not know the
meaning of a stampede or he is not saying the truth. What
actually happened was that the entire pilgrims scheduled to
throw Jamrat at that time, were channeled to follow one
particular street.
“At a time, we got to a certain point at 8:00am, where
military vehicle was set across to create a barrier. And then
some of the Saudi soldiers were standing by, suggesting that,
you cannot pass beyond that point.
“About 5,000 people coming from same direction were not
aware of the road in front, which resulted to a ‘sardining’ so
to speak, which made it very difficult for us to even stand.
So, we continued to squat to make room for fresh air while
the temperature was about 47 degrees Celsius.
“Pilgrims, in an effort to get fresh air, attempted to scale
fences of tents on both sides of the road. Very few
succeeded, while most people just succumbed to the
situation.”
It has been earlier confirmed that Taraba Amirul Hajj for
the 2015 pilgrimage, Alhaji Abbas Ibrahim, the First Class
ruler of Zing, died in the stampede in Mecca.
The chairman of the Taraba State Muslim Pilgrims
Welfare Board said that the body of the late traditional
ruler and his two wives had been recovered and buried in
Makkah on Friday, September 25.
Speaking with the Punch, an official of the National Hajj
Commission of Nigeria said that about 100 Nigerians
might have died in the stampede that occurred when
pilgrims were going to perform the symbolic stoning of
the devil in Mina.
He added that more Nigerian victims were discovered
when the commission’s officials joined their colleagues
from other countries’ in Mina morgue to identify their
nationalities.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari extended
condolences to the families of over 700 pilgrims who lost
their lives in a horrible disaster. He noted that the
stampede at Mina is a monumental tragedy, not only for
citizens of the countries involved, but for the global
Islamic community.