No fewer than 262 Oyo State pilgrims that took part in the 2022 holy pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia have landed in Nigeria safely.
The pilgrims arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, on Wednesday, July 20, 2022.
A statement signed by the Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Wasiu Olatubosun, says the first batch of Oyo pilgrims left their hotels for the airport at 6pm, Saudi time (4pm Nigerian time), on Tuesday and the aircraft conveying the pilgrims back to Nigeria took off at 2am, Nigerian time.
Olatubosun disclosed that some government functionaries, including the Head of Service, Ololade Agboola and the Executive Secretary, Primary Healthcare Board, Dr Muhideen Olatunji, among others, were on the flight.
The statement notes that the remaining batches of Oyo State Pilgrims are expected to return to the country later.
Some of the pilgrims thanked Almighty Allah for His mercy throughout the spiritual exercise.
The first batch of the pilgrims from the state had left Ibadan, the state capital, on Saturday, 21st of May, 2022 and were airlifted to the holy land about twenty hours later.
