The Muslim Public Affairs Centre (MPAC), Nigeria, has demanded that the Federal Government join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), review its security cooperation with Israel and take a more public position on Palestine following Nigeria’s failure to mention the issue in its national statement at the 81st United Nations General Assembly.
In a statement issued on Friday, September 25, by MPAC Executive Director, Mal. Disu Kamor, the organisation also questioned why Nigeria did not mention Palestine, Gaza, the Palestinian people or the two-state solution in its 24-paragraph UNGA 81 address, despite explicitly addressing the issue at the previous General Assembly.
MPAC said Nigeria’s silence was particularly significant because the country’s 2025 UNGA address had addressed the devastation in Gaza, condemned violence and aggression against civilians and reaffirmed support for a two-state solution.
At the 80th UNGA, Vice President Kashim Shettima, who represented President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said Nigeria believed “without stuttering and without doubt” that a two-state solution remained the path to lasting peace.
The organisation contrasted that position with this year’s address, which focused on issues including reform of the UN Security Council, climate finance, artificial intelligence, global debt architecture and counter-terrorism in the Sahel.
According to MPAC, the address contained no mention of Palestine, Gaza, the Palestinian people or the two-state solution.
“This was not an oversight. It was a choice,” the organisation said.
MPAC linked what it described as Nigeria’s silence to closer security and diplomatic relations between Abuja and Tel Aviv since the Tinubu administration assumed office in May 2023.
The organisation recalled that in August 2025, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs formally signed a Security Cooperation Agreement with Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister.
It said the agreement was followed by high-level engagements involving intelligence sharing, surveillance technology and counter-terrorism training, as well as plans for a Nigeria-Israel Joint Commission covering security, health, technology and economic cooperation.
MPAC also referred to reports in March 2026 of further defence and intelligence cooperation between Nigeria and Israel.
The organisation said these developments had occurred while Israeli military operations in Gaza continued to attract international condemnation and while the ICJ was hearing South Africa’s case against Israel under the Genocide Convention.
South Africa instituted proceedings against Israel at the ICJ in December 2023, alleging violations of the Genocide Convention in relation to Palestinians in Gaza. The proceedings remain ongoing.
MPAC said Nigeria’s most explicit solidarity with Palestine came before what it described as the deepening of Nigeria-Israel ties, while the country’s silence at UNGA 81 came afterwards.
The organisation questioned whether the two developments were connected.
“If Nigeria’s position has changed, Nigerians deserve to know,” MPAC said.
“If it has not changed, then why did an address built around justice, international law, humanitarian access and the protection of civilians find no room — not one sentence — for the Palestinian people?”
MPAC also criticised Nigeria’s decision not to join delegations that walked out of the General Assembly chamber when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the podium.
Dozens of delegations left the chamber during Netanyahu’s address, including representatives of countries from the Middle East and other regions.
MPAC noted that Nigeria’s delegation was not among those that walked out.
The organisation said the Federal Government must take three specific steps.
First, MPAC called on Nigeria to join South Africa’s case at the ICJ.
It said several countries had already filed declarations of intervention in the proceedings and described Nigeria, which it referred to as Africa’s largest democracy and home to the continent’s largest Muslim population, as “conspicuously absent”.
“That absence must end,” the organisation said.
Second, MPAC called on the Federal Government to make security cooperation with Israel conditional on accountability.
It specifically referenced the 2025 Security Cooperation Agreement and the proposed Nigeria-Israel Joint Commission, saying they should not proceed “on autopilot” while the conduct of the war in Gaza remained under international judicial scrutiny.
Third, the organisation urged Nigeria to publicly demonstrate solidarity with Palestine at the United Nations.
MPAC said that when another walkout occurred during Netanyahu’s address, Nigeria should be “standing with them, not sitting this one out”.
The organisation said Palestine, Gaza and the suffering of Palestinians had not disappeared despite their absence from Nigeria’s latest UNGA address.
“Palestine has not disappeared. Gaza has not disappeared. The suffering has not disappeared. And the question — what changed, and why — has certainly not disappeared,” MPAC said.
Nigeria has historically supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a position that was explicitly reaffirmed by the Nigerian government during the 80th UNGA in 2025.
MPAC said Nigerians therefore deserved an explanation if the government’s position had changed and urged the Federal Government to clarify why Palestine was absent from its latest UNGA statement.
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