Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has expressed sadness over the death of pilgrims numbering at least 747 in the Mina stampede during this year’s annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
A stampede in Mina, about 5 kilometres east of Islam’s holy city of Mecca, left at least 747 pilgrims dead and nearly 1000 injured.
In a statement through his media aide, Pul Ibe, on Saturday in Abuja, Atiku described the incident as “highly regrettable.”
According to Atiku, life is so precious that whoever dies, the world should be united in grief because we are bound by our common humanity.
Furthermore, he described the tragic incident as one of “the grievous accidents to have befallen Muslims in recent memory.”
The APC chieftain urged the whole world to be united in prayer to prevent a recurrence of such a tragic incident.
In the same vein, Atiku commiserated with the Nigerian media and the family of Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf over the death of the veteran journalist who equally lost her life in the stampede.