Nigeria's FG gives S’Arabia 24-hour ultimatum

Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo yesterday requested the Saudi authority to expedite action and resolve the issues surrounding the detention of female pilgrims adjudged to be on their own without male companion (Muharram) within 24 hrs.
 He made this call when he invited the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Nigeria, Khaled O.Y. Abdrabuh, to his office specifically to register Nigeria’s displeasure with the treatment meted out to her pilgrims.
About 171 intending Nigerian female pilgrims were yesterday deported from Saudi Arabia after they were held for two days at the Medina Airport.
Sambo noted that reports available to him suggests that only Nigeria pilgrims were subjected to such dehumanizing treatment and requested the Saudi authorities to apply caution and flexibility to allow “our pilgrims undertake their sacred religious duties.”
A statement by his spokesman Umar Sani said Sambo further stated that “should the Saudi authorities not desire our pilgrims to perform this year’s hajj they should let the country know.”
He noted that no reasonable and responsible government would sit and fold its arms while its citizens were manhandled and requested the ambassador to do all within his powers to ensure that the issues were resolved within 24 hours and that the outcome of such resolution should be communicated to him.
While explaining the position of the Saudi Arabian government, Abdrahuh said that Nigeria was not treated in isolation but that it affected all countries around the world.
He said that it was not a new policy but that the Saudi government decided to be flexible in previous years but was strict this time around. He said that a meeting was ongoing in Ryadh between the Ministries of Hajj, Foreign Affairs, Interior and the Governor of Mecca with a view to resolving the impasse.