Iranian regime inflaming “fundamentalism in Nigeria”

December 2015

In mid-September clashes between Nigerian army forces against supporters of the pro-Iran Shiite ‘Islamic Movement’ left many of the group’s members killed and led to the arrest of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim Zagzagi.

This event showed that Iran is continuing to meddle in all religious, political and religious affairs of Nigeria, and has found a new target for its export of fundamentalism.

The Iranian regime, after inflaming the countries of Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen, in its latest moves has gone after Nigeria to open the path it failed to do so in the Middle East, this time in Africa.

Iranian regime media in their reports referred to demonstrations staged in various cities across Nigeria during the course of two days, protesting “attacks by the army against three Islamic Movement centers, in which hundreds of innocent people were killed.”

Iranian media added thousands of Islamic Movement supporters had staged rallies in the streets of Kanu, Kadruna, Bawushi, Katsia and Gumba protesting the murder of hundreds of civilians, the arrest of the Islamic Movement leader Ibrahim Zagzagi and a number of his followers.

Following this event the Iranian regime took off the gloves and officially expressed its support for this group, held a ceremony for those killed and summoned the Nigerian Embassy charge d’affaires in Tehran to file an official protest to the Nigerian government regarding the arrest of this sectarian group’s leader.

How did the Iranian regime become so bold to publicly meddle in the internal affairs of an African country thousands of miles away from its own borders?

The answer to this question, in my opinion, is actually plain and simple. It is the result of an appeasement policy pursued by Mr. Obama and the European Union vis-à-vis Tehran. From the nuclear agreement process and thus announcing the end of Iran’s PMD dossier, one can come to realize how far major powers have gone in bowing to the Iranian regime. Announcing the end of Iran’s nuclear military measures while many indications show otherwise encourages the Iranian regime to further pursue the export of terrorism to other countries.

Mr. Obama, if you think that an incentive packages worth billions provided to the Iranian regime under the shadows of the nuclear agreement will derail them from their path of meddling in other countries, you are gravely mistaken. The subject of Nigeria and inflaming the fire of sectarian war in this country, and providing official support for a sectarian group, is a clear indication of your mistakes. Believe it or not, wherever in the world and in whatever country one finds the flames of sectarianism, rest assured you will find traces of the Iranian regime. Why? The Iranian regime can only continue its campaign of crackdown and killings inside Iran, fill its prisons, execute young Iranians and crush any opposition by exporting terrorism to countries abroad.

One must warn the U.S. and European countries that the only method to rein in fundamentalism and its crimes in the U.S. and Europe is to stand against the Iranian regime and support the Iranian people to overthrow the mullahs. If ISIS has risen in Iraq and Syria, the reason lies in the Iranian regime. One only needs to take a look at the history of ISIS in Syria and it becomes crystal clear.

Nigeria is not the first and will not be the last country to fall into the flame of sectarianism. The Iranian regime, known as the central banker of international terrorism, targets a specific country in each round and dispatches its agents there after training them in Iran for years. After Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, its new target is Nigeria, and tomorrow it will be another country.