The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has charged intending Muslim pilgrims on the need to stay on the side of the law.
She warned the pilgrims to resist any temptation of taking hard drugs to Saudi Arabia, saying drug trafficking attracts death penalty in the Middle East nation.
The Saudi authorities have also asked Nigerian pilgrims not to bring kolanut during the hajj.
More than 70,000 Nigerian pilgrims are expected to perform this year’s hajj.
Since the beginning of pilgrims’ airlift to Saudi Arabia earlier this week, more than five Nigerians have been arrested for alleged possession of substance suspected to be hard drugs and kolanut.
The presidential aide in a statement issued by her Special Assistant on Media, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, said despite repeated warnings and workshops for intending pilgrims, it is disheartening that some Nigerians still ran foul of Saudi Arabian law.
She reminded the pilgrims that some Nigerians caught with hard drugs in the last few years are still on death row in Saudi Arabia, pleading with pilgrims to shun the shameful act.