First female journalist from northern Nigeria among the dead in Saudi Arabian stampede

AT least two prominent Nigerians including the first female editor from northern Nigeria Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf and a prominent academic Professor Tijjani Almiskin have been identified as among the 717 people who died from the recent stampede in Saudi Arabia.

 

Millions of Muslims from around the world gather in Mecca during the annual hajj pilgrimage where they have to walk around the revered black stone the Kaaba. Given the numbers involved, accidents do occur as the sheer volume of humans can lead to a stampede at times.

 

Nigeria is one of the countries that sends the highest number of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia annually and as a result is likely to have one of the highest casualty rates in the latest tragedy. So far, the authorities have confirmed that among the dead are Hajiya Yusuf, who studied journalism at the Moscow Institute for Journalism and International Relations and earned an advanced diploma in journalism and international relations.

 

Her previous work experience includes working in the Kano State Ministry of Information, being editor of Sunday Triumph, New Nigerian and if Citizen Magazine, Kaduna. Bilkisu was also a columnist for Daily Trust and Leadership newspaper, as well as being a founding member of Women In Nigeria, the Federation of Muslim Women Associations in Nigeria and Advocacy Nigeria, where she was the executive director.

 

Also among the dead is Professor Almiskin, a professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, and one-time head of the University of Maiduguri Arabic Village in Gamboru where students of Arabic go for special training. He was recently one of the candidates for the vice chancellorship of the University of Maiduguri.

 

Prince Khaled al Faisal, the head of the Central Hajj Committee, has blamed the stampede on some pilgrims from African nationalities. Stampede and mass death of pilgrims during the annual hajj in Saudi Arabia has become a recurring tragedy as in 1990, more than 1, 400 pilgrims died en route to Mecca having been suffocated or trampled during a stampede in an air-conditioned pedestrian tunnel.

 

Similarly, about 111 pilgrims died while no fewer than 400 persons were injured earlier this month when a crane collapsed into a section of the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Stampedes and trampling to death of pilgrims is a regular occurrence in Mina, a valley where the symbolic stoning of the devil is observed as the last major rite during the pilgrimage.

 

This latest tragedy is the deadliest incident to occur during the hajj in 25 years. About 2m people are performing the pilgrimage this year including 70,000 Nigerians.