* Critics accuse Nigerian government of selling its national soul to the apartheid regime amid mass killings in Gaza Nigeria’s recent secu...
*Critics accuse Nigerian government of selling its national soul to the apartheid regime amid mass killings in Gaza
Nigeria’s recent security and
business alliance with the State of Israel — a nation facing global
condemnation for its military onslaught in Gaza — has ignited furious backlash
across the country, with rights activists, religious groups, and scholars
accusing the government of moral collapse and national betrayal.
In a move many are calling a
disgrace to Nigeria’s legacy of solidarity with oppressed peoples, Deputy
Foreign Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu signed a renewed cooperation pact with
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel-Harpaz in Abuja, pledging tighter
coordination on security, counter-terrorism, intelligence sharing, and economic
ventures.
The signing comes while Israel
stands in the global dock at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accused
of genocide, apartheid, and crimes against humanity in Gaza — where over 60,000
Palestinians, including women, children, and Christians, have reportedly been
killed since October 2024.
The Nigerian government, instead of
distancing itself from Tel Aviv’s blood-soaked record, has now opened its doors
to Israeli surveillance systems, military doctrines, and financial interests.
“A
DISGRACEFUL ALLIANCE WITH MURDERERS”
Professor Abdullahi Danladi, an
outspoken scholar and commentator, minced no words: “This is not a security
agreement — it is a disgraceful alliance with the world’s most notorious
murderers.”
In a widely shared statement,
Danladi warned that Nigeria is risking both its sovereignty and its moral
standing by inviting Israel — a state he described as an occupying power known
for targeted killings, ethnic cleansing, and state terrorism — into the heart
of its intelligence and military operations.
“Israel’s involvement in Nigeria’s
security is not protection; it is infiltration. Once embedded, they will bring
the same brutal playbook used against Palestinians: mass surveillance, civilian
suppression, and elimination of dissent,” he said. “It is treachery against the
Nigerian people.”
Danladi called on clerics, civil
society, and the academic community to rise and resist what he called a
“satanic pact.”
MURIC
CONDEMNS “ROMANCE WITH A TERRORIST STATE”
Echoing similar outrage, the Muslim
Rights Concern (MURIC) issued a scathing rebuke of the Nigerian-Israeli
agreement. Its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, labeled the partnership “a
romance with a terrorist state” and warned that accepting Israeli funds and
military training during an ongoing genocide is tantamount to “dancing on the
graves of slaughtered Palestinian children.”
Akintola pointed specifically to
Israel’s pledge to fund 40 Nigerian startups, calling them “vehicles of
deception from a rogue state.” He added: “Every single shekel from the Bank of
Israel is blood money. This is not investment — it’s complicity.”
MURIC urged Nigerian institutions —
from ministries to universities — to boycott Israeli offers, describing the
regime as an international pariah that has “defied the United Nations, mocked
all 193 member states, and rained destruction on besieged Palestinians.”
SELLING
OUT NIGERIA’S MORAL LEGACY
Critics argue that Nigeria’s
partnership with Tel Aviv marks a dangerous departure from its traditional
foreign policy anchored in anti-apartheid solidarity and African unity. The
move also flies in the face of global resistance to Israel’s Gaza war —
including from South Africa, Algeria, Bolivia, Chile, and other nations that
have either cut ties or supported the genocide case at the ICJ.
By throwing its lot in with Israel,
Nigeria not only undermines its moral credibility but risks becoming complicit
in crimes against humanity, analysts warn.
“This is not just geopolitics,” said
a senior Christian cleric in Kaduna. “It’s moral suicide. At a time when the
world is demanding accountability for war crimes, Nigeria is opening business
fronts and military gates for the accused.”
PUBLIC
SILENCE MEANS COMPLICITY
Calls are growing louder for
Nigerians to reject what many now see as a cursed alliance. Activists have
warned that technologies and tactics imported from Israel could soon be used
not against insurgents, but against Nigerian citizens, activists, and
journalists.
“This is how it starts,” said human
rights advocate Amina Yusuf. “They’ll say it’s for counter-terrorism, but what
they’re importing is a regime’s entire infrastructure of fear — surveillance,
profiling, and repression.”
If Nigeria fails to reverse course,
critics warn, it will not just lose its international moral voice — it may also
lose its grip on internal democratic freedoms.
“WHOSE
SIDE IS NIGERIA ON?”
As the dust settles on the deal, the
question reverberating through civil society, religious circles, and academia
is simple but damning: Whose side is Nigeria on — the oppressed or the
oppressor?
For a country with a history of
supporting the Palestinian cause, this alliance with an accused genocidal
regime is not just policy; it is a profound identity crisis. And unless swiftly
corrected, it may haunt Nigeria’s conscience — and reputation — for decades to
come.
No comments