The recent petition by the vice president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors and member of the World Editors Forum, Malam Suleiman Uba Gaya, to the National Security Adviser, General Babagana Monguno (retd), is a follow-up to a call by the Centre for Quranic Reciters (CQR) to investigate and counter the reported Turkish espionage on Nigeria.
The Secretary-General of the CQR, Sheikh Goni Sanusi Abubakar, and Malam Gaya, in their submissions, warned of the plan by the Turkish Government to ship an organisation known as Ma’arif Foundation into Nigeria to achieve its mission.
The sole objective of the initiative, backed by a powerful Gulf nation that is steeply mired in “wahabism”, is to stealthily take over foreign investments of Turkish nationals who do not breathe the same air with the government, particularly the institutions run by the Hismet Movement owned by the United States-based Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gulen.
The CQR, in its statement, said, “On the surface, Ma’arif is going to be made to look harmless, with the stated intention of granting scholarships to Muslims from poor homes. But that is only to lure unsuspecting Nigerians and gain acceptance.”
It warned that activities of the Foundation could breed intolerance among religious groups in the country, saying “It is our hope that the Nigerian authorities will take this warning seriously and act with the needed dispatch, before it gets late.”
In his own submission, Gaya drew the attention of the NSA to a recent revelation by a pro-government newspaper, Hurriyet Daily News, published in Turkey to the effect that Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs simply known as Diyanet, was engaging in spying activities through some Imams in Nigeria, Germany and 36 other countries with Hismet Movement’s presence.
The latest development is a fallout of the refusal of the Nigerian Government to shut down all the 17 colleges and a university owned by the Hismet Movement following the failed coup d’état of July 15, 2016 allegedly masterminded by Fethullah Gulen who was accused of using his chain of schools and universities located in over 180 countries as conduits to fund his ambition and platforms to breed radical elements.
Consequently, the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Hakan Cakil, asked the Federal Government to shut down the schools on the grounds that they were being used to recruit terrorists.
But the Buhari administration bluntly turned down the request since no such nefarious activities have been traced to the institutions within its territory. On the contrary, the activities of the Movement are exemplified by its immense contributions to the nation’s socio-economic development for over one decade.
Consumed by anger and paranoia over Nigeria’s snub, the Turkish President, Recep Tayyid Erdogan, ordered a crackdown on Nigerian students in various higher institutions in the country. Many were clamped into detention, while returnee undergraduates were seized at the airports, hauled into prisons or deported after subjecting them to all kinds of humiliation on arrival.
The story currently making the rounds is that the Turkish Embassy in Nigeria is in cahoots with a certain Abuja-based Turkish national named Huseyin Oztunc who is said to be visiting schools and other investments belonging to members of the Hismet Movement in Nigeria, taking photographs, recording videos and stalking them with so much impunity. Huseyin Oztunc is believed to be operating under the cover of a Turkish Non-Governmental Organisation, MUSAID, as its president. He is also believed to be racketeering in visa at the Turkish Embassy and heads a spy network detailed to profile Hismet Movement participants in Nigeria.
It is, however, gratifying to note that the relevant security agencies have launched an investigation into the alleged espionage regardless of the denial of the allegation by the Turkish ambassador to Nigeria, just as the other targeted countries like Germany have done.
Nigeria is having more than its own fair share of global terrorism through the activities of Boko Haram, a sect believed to be one of the deadliest until lately. Their operations have continued to pose a threat to our national interest, security and collective survival.
Had the terror group been dealt with at its inchoate stage, the country would have been spared the security challenges that we are presently grappling with. We advise that the investigation should be thorough and appropriate diplomatic actions taken against that country if found culpable. No serious countries take espionage on their territories lightly.
