Recall that Nigeria was invited for the emergency joint Arab-Islamic summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh to discuss the war taking place in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories. In the same vein , the Federal Government has been designated by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League to spearhead a special delegation tasked with initiating immediate international measures to bring an end to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, conveyed this development in a statement, indicating that the information was communicated to Nigeria by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Abuja on Tuesday.
The decision to include Nigeria in this significant role was made in response to the resolution adopted during the Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit on Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people, which convened in Riyadh on Saturday.
Minister Tuggar shared that the resolution outlining Nigeria’s participation in the peace initiative states the following:
“Assign the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in its capacity as the presidency of the 32nd Arab and Islamic Summit, along with counterparts from Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Palestine.
“Any other interested countries, and the Secretary-General of both organizations to initiate immediate international action on behalf of all member states of the OIC and the Arab League to formulate an international move to halt the war in Gaza.
” To pressure for a real and serious political process to achieve permanent and comprehensive peace in accordance with established international references.”
At the summit, Tuggar said Nigeria stood firmly with the two states solution prescribed by the UN to help bring a stop to the Israeli, Palastinian war.
Tuggar said Nigeria was ready to work collectively to bring and end to the violence and find lasting solutions to the war.
According to him, Nigeria welcomes the intervention by the OIC to emphatically add it’s voice to the call for an end to the violence and loss of lives of innocent civilians.
Tuggar said the disproportionate use of force against the people of Gaza begs the question “how many more must die to avenge the act of aggressor.”
He said the war against the people of Gaza cannot be contemplated in the same breath of the “Just War Doctrine” and has to stop for the sake of humanity.
“Where is the rule of law.
“Today live in a dated driven world, and the question is where is the evidence that the violence melted out by Israel on Gaza is having any effect on Hamas.”