The Federal Republic of Nigeria has been selected by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League as part of a special delegation mandated to initiate immediate international action to halt the on-going war in Gaza.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar, in a statement said the message was communicated to Nigeria by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Nigeria on Tuesday in Abuja.
Tuggar said the decision was taken in furtherance to the resolution adopted at the Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit on Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people, which took place in Riyadh on Saturday.
According to the minister, the resolution that bore Nigeria in the inclusion in the peace team stated 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 a permanent and comprehensive peace in accordance with established international references.”
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.
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, Palestinian war.
Tuggar said Nigeria was ready to work collectively to bring an end to the violence and find lasting solutions to the war.
According to him, Nigeria welcomed 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 begged the question “how many more must die to avenge the act of aggression.”
He said the war against the people of Gaza could not be contemplated in the same breath of the “Just War Doctrine” and had to stop for the sake of humanity.
