Former Nigeria’s Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has condoled with families of those who died in Thursday’s stampede in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
Some of the pilgrims, who were observing the ritual stoning of the devil in Mecca during the Hajj pilgrimage, died in a pandemonium.
More than 740 Muslims lost their lives, while over 800 persons were injured in the incident, which the Saudi authorities have ordered a probe into.
Atiku, in a statement issued in Abuja by his Head of Media, Paul Ibe, described the tragedy as one grievous accident that has befallen Muslims in recent memories.
The former Customs boss urged Muslims across the globe to remain united in grief and offer prayers to God to avert the recurrence of such accident in future.
“Life is so precious that whoever dies, the world should be united in grief because we are bound by our common humanity.”
He also mourned the female journalist that died in the Hajj stampede, describing her as a shining light of the journalism profession in the country.
“The late Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf, one of the Nigerian victims, was a shining light of the journalism profession in Nigeria,” Atiku said.
May her soul and all the departed Rest in God’s Peace…Amen.