By Sagir Abdullahi Kwanar Huguma The recent wave of fabricated publications targeting the Chairman/CEO of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman (Pakistan), marks a disturbing decline in the ethical fabric of Nigerian journalism. What should be a profession grounded in truth, verification, and public trust has, in certain quarters, been reduced to a marketplace where lies are traded like commodities.
As a practitioner, observing journalists being hired to craft unfounded allegations in order to smear a man whose leadership has delivered one of the most successful Hajj operations in decades is not only shameful it is a national embarrassment. The ease with which falsehoods are now assembled, packaged, and disseminated under the banner of “news” signals a dark moment for the profession.
For decades, the worst ethical breach in journalism was the infamous “brown envelope.” But today, the situation has degenerated into a cash and carry culture, where the loudest voices belong not to truth seekers, but to those who trade credibility for payment. The NAHCON crisis has exposed how far some are willing to sink: inventing stories, misrepresenting events, and twisting internal processes into scandal all for financial gain.
Yet, in this reckless frenzy, none of these hired writers bothered to engage with the actual stakeholders: the thousands of pilgrims who openly praised the 2025 Hajj operations. None reviewed the operational data or acknowledged the widely recognized improvements introduced under Professor Pakistan. Instead, they chose sensational fiction over responsible reporting.
An internal NAHCON investigation has already revealed disturbing patterns:
> “Behind the headlines, investigations now point to a network of journalists, insiders, and former officials working together to manipulate public opinion, manufacture scandals, and push for a change in NAHCON’s leadership.”
Such coordinated misinformation is not journalism it is professional sabotage.
This is a moment of reckoning for the Nigerian Union of Journalists, the Press Council, media guilds, and regulatory bodies. If these institutions fail to act decisively, the credibility of the entire profession risks permanent erosion. A press that becomes a tool for hired vengeance loses its legitimacy and its constitutional purpose.
To Professor Abdullahi Saleh Pakistan, these orchestrated attacks are evidence not of failure, but of success.
Corrupt interests lash out only when their influence is threatened. Your honesty, transparency, and humanity have disrupted old patterns of exploitation, and the beneficiaries of those patterns are fighting back.
But the truth remains: your leadership delivered measurable results, restored order, and reclaimed the dignity of the Hajj exercise for Nigerian pilgrims.
This attempted character assassination will fade, but your legacy will stand.
The public sees the truth.
The pilgrims know the truth.
History will record the truth.
The time has come for journalism to reclaim its conscience and for those who weaponize the media for selfish agendas to be confronted and corrected.
Nigeria deserves better. The profession deserves better. And NAHCON’s Chairman deserves respect, not reckless manufactured lies.