Veteran journalist and former presidential aide Reuben Abati has urged Shiite protesters in Nigeria to focus on the economic implications of the Middle East crisis rather than staging demonstrations in support of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.
Abati made the remarks on Tuesday during the “What’s Trending” segment of The Morning Show on Arise Television.
He described it as unfortunate that a geopolitical conflict involving global powers in the Middle East was being reduced to a religious issue in Nigeria.
According to him, religion remains a highly sensitive and divisive subject in the country.
Abati said many of those participating in the protests may not fully understand the complexities of the conflict, suggesting that some individuals could have mobilised them without adequate knowledge of the issues involved.
He advised that Nigerians should instead be concerned about the potential economic fallout of the crisis, particularly its impact on the cost of living and the pump price of fuel, which he noted has already increased in Nigeria and other parts of the world.
He urged Nigerians to prepare for the possible economic consequences of the conflict rather than engage in what he described as emotional demonstrations.
Abati said: “It’s very unfortunate that an incident in the Middle East, which has to do with geopolitics, competition for power among the big nations and all that, the part of it that would be of interest to Nigerian citizens is religion.
“This is again an indication of how religion is such a sensitive issue in Nigeria. You have the Sunni Muslims in Nigeria, who are in the majority. You have the Shiite, you know, the Shiites ideological orientation in Nigeria. So it’s easy to assume that this will be the Shiites who are dragging the American flag on the floor, who are dragging the Israeli flag.
“My take is that many of these people involved in this protest, they don’t even know what the conflict is all about. They have no idea. Some individual may just have mobilized them to go and fight for Iran and support Iran, something that, in terms of their own circumstances, is not religion that is affecting them.
“They should be more concerned about the implications for the cost of living in Nigeria. They should be more concerned about the implications for the pump price of fuel, which we spoke about earlier on, has already gone up in Nigeria, as it has also in many parts of the world.
“They are just protesting, you know, religion, religion, which is why religion will continue to be divisive in this country.
“Our expectation will have been that whether you are Shiites or Sunni, you should join the global community that is pushing for peace, because it is when the world is a peaceful place that all of us will be able to live.
“However, the Inspector General police has already placed his commissioners around the country on alert to say that they should ensure that a problem many miles away does not become an issue for destabilization in Nigeria.
“We should be prepared, as a people, in terms of how the fallout can affect us, and not emotional demonstration down here.”
