The Zamfara Government on Friday received 137 female pilgrims who were deported from Saudi Arabia.
The deportees, who arrived at the state capital Gusau, were received by the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Wakkala, at the Presidential Lodge.
Addressing the pilgrims, the deputy governor, who is also the state Amirul Hajj, sympathised with the women.
“If the requirement of the Saudi authorities was for you to have a guide, the state government and the Federal Government are your guides and so they have no grounds to make you go through all these hardships.”
Wakkala assured that the Federal Government had entered into diplomatic discussions with the Saudi Arabian Government over the matter.
He said that the matter would be amicably resolved and that the pilgrims would be taken back so that they could perform the Hajj.
The deputy governor said that the state government would take care of the pilgrims pending the resolution of the matter.
Addressing newsmen later, the deputy governor said that the state government would meet with other states affected by the deportation to discuss the possibility of asking for compensation for the deportees from the Saudi government.
He said the women who were affected from Zamfara State were those who went in the third and fourth flights while the others had already arrived at their destination safely.
One of the deportees, Hajiya Sa’adatu Yusuf, told NAN that they had a terrible experience.
Yusuf said that they were locked in a cage like criminals and were fed only twice a day. (NAN)