Middle East Crisis: ‘Don’t Join Protests You Know Nothing About’, Clerics Warn Nigerians

Top Islamic clerics in Lagos have warned Nigerians to stop joining protests they do not fully understand.

They have also cautioned that good intentions alone cannot prevent bad actors from hijacking demonstrations to cause violence and destruction.

The League of Chief Imams, speaking through the National Missioner and Chief Imam of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Sheikh Abdulrahman Ahmad, issued the stern warning at the 2026 Ramadan Tafsir/Iftar programme held at Lagos House, Ikeja.

According to a statement by the Lagos State Government on Wednesday, the clerics directed their message particularly at Nigerians who had taken to the streets in solidarity with Iran following the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during United States-Israeli strikes, warning that Nigeria must not be dragged into a war that was not its own.

Members of the South-West chapter of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria had on Monday staged protests in Lagos over Khamenei’s killing, triggering concern among the clerics over the potential for the demonstrations to degenerate into violence.

Ahmad, addressing the gathering which included top government officials, Islamic scholars and Muslim faithful, was blunt in his counsel.

“Don’t join a protest that you don’t know anything about. Remember that the country is still dealing with the effect of EndSARS protests. Don’t cause disruption. Your intention may be pure, may be good, but do you know about the next person who will hide under that and cause mayhem and cause destruction?” he said.

The cleric’s reference to the October 2020 EndSARS protests was pointed. The demonstrations, which began as a legitimate campaign against police brutality, were hijacked by hoodlums who burned down public and private property across Lagos and other states, causing losses running into billions of naira — losses from which many communities were yet to recover.

Sheikh Ahmad warned that a repeat of such destruction, fuelled this time by an overseas conflict, would be catastrophic.

“We are not happy that our brothers and fellow human beings have been attacked on a daily basis, but then, if we cannot be part of the solution, we should not be part of the problem,” he said.

Drawing from Islamic scripture, the Chief Imam invoked the concept of fitnah — civil strife or chaos — to warn that unrest, once unleashed, does not discriminate between the guilty and the innocent.

“Beware of fitnah; when it happens, it will not only affect those who are responsible for it, but it will also affect all of us. The crisis in the Middle East is fitnah. This is a time for prayer, a time to be part of peace; this is not a time for protest and demonstration. This is not a time for insults. This is not a time for upheavals. It is a time of sober reflection,” Ahmad declared.

Beyond the security warnings, the cleric raised economic alarm bells, telling the congregation to brace for a sharp rise in the pump price of petrol as the Middle East conflict disrupts global oil supply chains.

“I told the congregation they should prepare for an increase in fuel prices. And today, if you have refilled your vehicle’s tank, you will know how much petrol is being sold per litre. Chances are that it could even hit N2,000 per litre. It may even be worse than that, except we face it with prayer,” he warned.

The League also turned its attention to fellow clerics, urging them to deploy their pulpits responsibly during the Ramadan and Lent seasons by preaching against disaffection and confusion rather than inflaming tensions.

Sheikh Ahmad said: “Allah has warned us to beware of a calamity that, when it happens, will not just affect those who are responsible for it. And at the moment, it is affecting all of us.”