By Abdul-Ganiyy Akanbi,Abuja

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, has declared that there won’t be any upward review of the 2026 Hajj slots for both tour operators and the state pilgrims boards, confirming that the current allocation of 50,000 remains the final figure for the country.

Newly appointed Chairman/CEO of the commission, Ambassador Ismail Abba Yusuf, who stated this during a high-level virtual meeting with licensed travel operators, executives and members of the Association of Hajj and Umrah Operators of Nigeria, AHUON and the Hajj and Umrah Tour Operators Association of Nigeria, HUTON on Tuesday in Abuja, characterized the reduction as a “global reality” affecting all participating nations, not just Nigeria.

Yusuf according to a statement by the
NAHCON’s Acting Head of Public Affairs, Mariam Zubair Abubakar, said the Saudi Arabian government has ruled out additional slots for the country despite efforts by the commission following pleas from private tour operators for intervention, adding that focus must now shift to completing preparation for the 2026 Hajj.

The Chairman signaled a move toward stricter regulatory oversight, warning that the Commission would henceforth apply “stringent rules” while operators who fail to meet operational standards would be sanctioned.

Responding to concerns raised by the tour operators regarding financial bottlenecks, Yusuf directed all affected to submit formal presentations on all issues related to funds and refunds to facilitate a structured administrative resolution.

The Commissioner of Operations, Alhaji Anofiu Elegushi, commended the operators for their efforts thus far but issued a stern warning regarding timelines, disclosing that visa issuance is scheduled to commence before the weekend.

“Tour operators must speed up the medical screening of their pilgrims immediately. The window is closing, and the Saudi portal remains unforgiving to late registrants.

“With the portal closure looming without extensions and the federal government pushing for a seamless exercise, the Chairman has urged all stakeholders to treat the upcoming deadliness with all kind of seriousness as there will be no request for addition time above the Saudi government’s stated time.

“The time for appeals has passed; the time for compliance has arrived,” Elegushi said.

By Abdul-Ganiyy Akanbi

A civil society organisation, CSO, the Independent Hajj Reporters, IHR, said it has uncovered alleged passport substitution in some states after the reopening of the portal for upload of pilgrims’ data in the ongoing registration process for the 2026 Hajj.

Although the organisation withheld the identities of the affected states, it disclosed that available information indicated some officials of State Muslim Pilgrims’ Welfare Boards, SMPWBs are allegedly collecting fresh international passports from intending pilgrims and charging amounts higher than the initial Hajj fare earlier announced by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON.

In a statement issued by the national coordinator of IHR, Ibrahim Muhammad, “the passports are reportedly being substituted with those already in the custody of the boards to enable data upload before the deadline.”

“If confirmed, the alleged practice suggests an attempt to replace pilgrims who had already completed their payments with new entrants willing to pay higher sums, particularly in states that have already exhausted their allocated Hajj slots,” he stated.

The IHR, therefore, called on NAHCON, SMPWBs, and other relevant authorities to intensify monitoring of the registration process across states to prevent abuse of the system.

It also urged the intending pilgrims to remain vigilant and to be wary of any state agency still collecting new passports beyond its approved allocation, as such actions may indicate attempts to substitute already registered pilgrims.

According to the organisation, this caution is consistent with NAHCON’s recent public advisory, in which the commission warned the public against making fresh payments to any individual, group, or agency, stressing that payment for the 2026 Hajj has officially closed and that updates would only be communicated through its verified channels.

It emphasized that the urgent intervention by NAHCON is necessary to protect the integrity of the Hajj registration process and to safeguard the interests of pilgrims who have already paid the officially approved Hajj fare.

 By George Mgbeleke
The Senate has clarified that the electronic transmission of election results in real time does not translate to e-voting as being peddled in some quarters, noting that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lacks the capacity to conduct e-voting at present.
 
The upper chamber further clarified that INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) “is not an e-voting platform, but a platform when the election results that have been manually counted and declared at the polling units are uploaded and publicised.”
 
Chairman, Senate Ad-hoc Panel to Review the 2026 Electoral Bill, Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire made the clarifications on Arise News Channel on Thursday, explaining the difference between the electronic transmission of election results in real time and e-voting system.
 
The Senate had constituted the adhoc panel to review the report of its Committee on Electoral Matters; harmonise divergent views and address grey areas identified during the exercise. It also appointed Adegbonmire to lead the 7-man panel.
 
Speaking on the decision of the Senate on Thursday, Adegbonmire explained that Nigeria had not transitioned to an e-voting system contrary to what some people had insinuated or what some media platforms had reported.
 
He said: “People need to understand what real-time means. Real-time transmission can only happen if the INEC adopts an e-voting system. For now, INEC does not have the capability for e-voting. Maybe in two or three years, we can adopt e-voting. But as of today, INEC has not put an e-voting system in place.”
 
“This is the misconception that the media has brought into play. The provision you keep emphasising says the presiding officer will first fill the result manually in Form EC8A. It is the Form EC8A that has been filled manually and will be transmitted to IReV. If we change ‘transmit’ to ‘upload’ in the Electoral Bill, 2026, will it change anything? The answer is No.
 
Adegbonmire, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, further explained misconception about IReV, which according to him, should be corrected considering its implications for the country’s peaceful co-existence.
 
The lawmaker, therefore, pointed out that IReV “is not a voting platform. Rather, it is a platform meant to publicise election results already declared by the presiding officers at polling units across the federation.
 
“It is important, first of all, to understand what IReV does because there is a lot of misconception about it or deliberate misrepresentation of what it stands for. The Senate never said INEC should not use IReV for the 2027 elections. So, what is IReV? It is software developed by INEC to publicise results by INEC.
 
“IReV is not an e-voting platform as some people think. This is the misinformation some people are peddling. They keep saying when I want to see my vote. But in reality, IReV is a platform meant to publicise election results already declared at the polling units.
 
“This is not an emotional argument. I heard people say the version of the House of Representatives should be adopted. It is a sheer misconception. What does the version say? It simply says the presiding officer shall electronically transmit the result from each polling unit to the IReV portal in real time and such transmission shall be done after Form EC8A has been signed by the presiding officer and countersigned by the candidate or polling agent at the polling unit…”
 
He also, explained that IReV, as an electronic platform to display election results, had “a pattern of working, and the National Assembly cannot change the software by mere legislation. It was a sheer misconception to conclude that the Senate declined the use of IReV for the transmission of election results.”
 
“Whether we call it upload, transfer, or transmission, as far as it says IReV must be used, it will be used in the manner it was configured. That is the point I am making. You must first manually write out the figure. After you have written out the figure at the polling unit, then you can upload, transfer or transmit depending on the nomenclature we want to use.
 
“When you have not complied with the proper filling of Form EC8A, you cannot transfer, transmit or upload it. That is what people must understand. When you talk about transmission, it has nothing to do with the sanctity of the voting process. If you are given ballot paper to thumb print, it is counted manually after the election. It is not IReV or BVAS that count ballots. Vote count is manually done.
 
“In my own case, for instance, I come from Akure. I vote in Akure. All the electoral materials are brought into Akure two to three days before the election. They are kept in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The night before, they start transporting them to different locations across the state. In Ondo State, there are places where one has to travel for eight hours to get there. In some cases, they have to use boats to get to the riverine areas.
 
“This means voting cannot start at the time nationwide. In Akure, voting can start at 10:00 a.m. In other parts of the state, voting may not start until 2:00 p.m., even some at 4:00 p.m. in some cases. Most likely, they will finish the vote count by 10:00 p.m.
 
“In Akure, for instance, the presiding officers will upload election results at polling units at 4:00 p.m. because voting is concluded as scheduled. In Arugbo Ijaw, however, voting kicks off at 4:00 p.m. This is the reality in the country, and we must take it into consideration in our reforms. The truth of the matter is that you are not going to see how you voted on the IReV because it is not an e-voting platform
 
“What the Senate has done is that we do not want a situation in which somebody will come and say this man ought to have uploaded this result at 2:00 p.m. You and I know that it is not every time you put something on the Internet that will go through freely. If we are not careful, the smallest thing will spark an issue.
 
“If somebody said the election result was declared at 2:00 p.m, how did you put it on IReV at 7:00 p.m.? They will simply assume that the election results must have been rigged. The media need to be careful how you report all these issues.”