Prof.Jega’s Brother, Taraba Emir, Among Those Identified To have Died in Mecca Thursday Stampede

Justice Abdulkadir Jega, a brother to Prof. Attahiru Jega, the immediate past Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, is said to have been identified among the faithfuls that lost their lives in Thursday’s stampede in Saudi Arabia.

Abdulkadir Jega was a judge of the Court of Appeal and also a brother to Mahmud Jega, the Editor-In-Chief of Daily Trust Newspaper.

Another Justice of the Ilorin Division of the Court of Appeal, Justice Musa Hassan Alkali; the Emir of Zing and Ameerul-hajj of Taraba State to 2015’s hajj exercise, Abbas Ibrahim and two of his wives have also been identified as among those that died in the Holy City while Stoning the devil.

According to a family source, the body of the judge, who was a member of the Kebbi State Government delegation to the 2015 Hajj, was found in a mortuary in Mina, Saudi Arabia.

The Emir’s death was confirmed to journalists by the Chairman of the state Pilgrims Board, Hamman Tukur, who added that some pilgrims from the state were still missing.

Punch reports that over 100 Nigerians might have died in the stampede that occurred when pilgrims were going to perform the symbolic stoning of the devil in Mina, Saudi Arabia.

This is as the death toll from the stampede has risen to 769 from 717 earlier reported.

Other prominent Nigerians, who have been confirmed to have died in the stampede, includes the Deputy Secretary General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs Professor Tijjani Abubakar El-Miskin and a veteran female journalist, Bilkisu Yusuf. The Nigerian hajj officials are said to still be compiling the list of Nigerians affected.

Meanwhile, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria has begun a census of the country’s pilgrims in Saudi Arabia as some pilgrims have been declared still missing.