Hajiya Larai Ari, a member of the Amirul Hajj in Gombe State, has cautioned pregnant women not to abort their pregnancies in their bid to perform the hajj.
Ari made the call in Bajoga in the Funakaye Local Government Area of the state during the team's tour of Dukku, Nafada and Funakaye.
It would be recalled that the State Government had planned to introduce new methods of screening intending women pilgrims to Saudi Arabia to detect those that are pregnant.
“Islam prohibits abortion because of pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia,” she said, urging pregnant women to be patient and postpone their trips to next year.
The state’s Amirul Hajj and Grand Khadi, Alhaji Usman Baba-Liman, said the 2012 intending pilgrims would be the first in the state who would be transported directly to Medina, instead of Jedda.
He said that in the past, pilgrims used to spend seven hours from Jedda to Madina.
Baba-Liman announced the reduction of the quantity of items to be carried from Saudi Arabia to Nigeria from 50 Kilogrammes to 40 kilogrammes.
Alhaji Damina Sardauna, Alhaji Aliyu Idris and Alhaji Mohammed Ribado, the Chairmen Caretaker Committees of Dukku, Nafada and Bajoga respectively, called on the intending pilgrims to be good ambassadors of their Local Governments, states and country.
They advised the intending pilgrims to worship only God and respect their leaders to ensure the success of the hajj (NAN)
