TRAGEDY: Imam Dies shortly after conducting Eid prayers today at Song, Adamawa State

Barely 30 minutes after leading the Eid Prayers at Song Local Government, The chief Imam, Modibbo Yahaya Song was reported to have died of natural causes. He is expected to be buried according to Islamic rites.

MECCA STAMPEDED: Panti Zing and Amirul Hajj of Adamawa State feared dead

As reported by the nation

Mecca, Medina, Mina and allied sacred cities are only among the privileged few, among the globe’s holiest religious destinations, to which pilgrims flock every year.  Even if the whole of the pilgrim population were to perish, that calamity would still not dull these cities’ appeal.  Faith, after all, is a thing of the mind.

Besides, by Islamic belief, dying in Mecca during pilgrimage is religious bliss; for to the deceased would come additional blessings the living cannot boast, as (s)he enters Al-Jannah a privileged soul indeed.  But it was never conceived as being crushed by cranes or being squashed in stampedes.

Which is why the Saudi authorities must take the blame for these twin-tragedies; and must wake up to their responsibilities.

By Allah, Nigeria has paid dearly for these man-made errors, in lost lives and crushed limbs.  From the stampede, no fewer than 56 Nigerians — and still counting — out of a casualty figure of 769 so far have perished, many of them the cream of their generation.

The morbid list: Justice Abdulkadir Jega, presiding judge, Court of Appeal, Abuja, and brother to Prof. Attahiru Jega, former INEC chairman, Justice Musa Hassan Alkali, another Court of Appeal judge, Alhaji Abbas Ibrahim, the Panti Zing (traditional ruler of Zing, in Adamawa State) and Amirul Hajj (leader) of the Adamawa delegation, with two of his four wives, Prof. Tijani Abubakar El-Miskin, the famed Islamic scholar, Hajiya Bilikisu Yusuf, former editor of defunct Citizen magazine.  And to think of the fate of Alhaji Bello Gidan-Hamma, former caretaker chairman of Illela Local Government of Sokoto State, with himself, mother, stepmother and two wives perishing in the stampede!

Nigerian Army surprises wounded Soldiers in Yola !

The Chief of Army Staff  Major-General Tukur Yusuf Buratai celebrated the Sallah Eid-il-Kabir festivities with wounded troops of the Nigerian army in Yola yesterday 24th September, 2015. The Chief of Army Staff was represented by the Brigade Commander, 23 Armoured Brigade Col. Abba Poopola who was in company of other Army officers at the Military Hospital Yola, where food and drinks were served to the Wounded Soldiers and their families.

Speaking further, the Brigade Commander said the Chief of Army Staff sent money and a cow for the Sallah celebration and urged the soldiers to celebrate life since they were among st the living.

Beneficiaries expressed their gratitude saying this was the first of its kind ever given to them in their long years of service and were grateful to the Chief or army Staff, Brigade Commander as well as the hospital attendants
see more photos after the cut