President Bola Tinubu has appointed Ambassador Ismail Yusuf as the new Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).
In a statement on Wednesday by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the President said the appointment is subject to Senate confirmation as stipulated in Section 3(2) of the NAHCON Act, 2026.
According to the statement, “President Tinubu sent a letter today to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, requesting the expeditious confirmation of Ambassador Yusuf to replace Professor Abdullahi Usman, who resigned this week, after about 14 months in the post.”
Yusuf, a career diplomat, served as Nigeria’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Türkiye from 2021 to 2024.
The appointment follows Professor Abdullahi Usman’s resignation as NAHCON boss, reported a day earlier. No official reason has been provided for his exit.
Usman was appointed by Tinubu in 2024 and oversaw his first Hajj operations in 2025.
He succeeded Jalal Arabi, who was removed amid an investigation into alleged misappropriation of funds allocated for the 2024 Islamic pilgrimage.
Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.
Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.
He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.
Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).
He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.
He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.
Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled: Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.
