7 female pilgrims deported from Saudi Arabia arrive Nigeria

Seven female pilgrims deported from Saudi Arabia on grounds of incomplete traveling documents arrived in Nigeria on Tuesday, barely two days to the commencement of the Hajj season, aviation sources said. The deportees arrived the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in the northwestern state of Kano at about 4:30 a.m. local time aboard a Boeing 747 Kabo Aircraft, said an aviation source who declined to be mentioned. According to the top aviation source, the pilgrims were deported from Saudi Arabia's Holy city Mecca, barely two weeks after authorities deported about 20 Nigerian pilgrims for similar offense. In September, about 1,000 female pilgrims from Nigeria were detained by the Saudi Arabian authorities, which said they were not accompanied by male escorts. The arrest and mass deportation of the arrested pilgrims sparked off a diplomatic row between the government of Nigeria and the Saudi Arabian authorities. Some 16,000 pilgrims from at least 28 states across Nigeria left the shores of the West African country early October to perform the annual pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, according to officials.