The Government of Turkey on Thursday said it had alerted the
Federal Government to the existence of schools allegedly owned by suspected
terrorists and want them shut down. Turkey said it had officially notified the Nigerian
government “to the existence of 17 of such schools in Nigeria, which bear the
name of Turkey” but were not owned by the European country.
The country said the institutions, which ranged from schools
to hospitals, were allegedly owned by the Fethullah Gulen Terrorist Organisation
allegedly founded by Fethullah Gulen.
The Turkish government, which stated that the country did
not own any school in Nigeria, said similar schools established in Turkey had
been shut down.
A document released by the Turkish embassy listed the indicted
schools and institutions as Surat Educational Limited, Abuja; Nigerian-Turkish
International School, in Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Yobe, Ogun and Lagos; and the
Nigerian-Turkish Nile University, Abuja.
Others, according to the embassy, are The Association of
Businessmen and Investors of Nigeria and Turkey/Abinat, Abuja and Lagos; Ufuk
Dialogue Foundation, Abuja; Nigerian-Turkish Nizamiye Hospital, Abuja; and Vefa
Travel Agency, Abuja.
The Ambassador of Turkey to Nigeria, Mr. Hakan Cakil, while
speaking to the Vice- Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Shehu
Sani, when the latter paid the diplomat a visit at his Abuja office, allegedly
that the owners of the schools sponsored the recent coup in Turkey.
Sani was there in company with select journalists, including
our correspondent.
According to the ambassador, confessions by the coup
plotters, who are currently under investigation, have indicated that the same
syndicate which hatched the botched July 15, 2016 coup, own the schools in
Nigeria.
Cakil said the organisation and its investments had enjoyed
wide acceptance by the public in Turkey until suspected coupists confessed to
using the organisations for terrorist activities.
The ambassador said, “You may be aware that the Government
of Turkey has started to investigate the sponsors of the coup and it is now
very clear that Gulen was behind the coup. There are some testimonies we have
taken from the military officials.
On the schools in Nigeria, the envoy said, “In Nigeria, they
have 17 schools; some of them are in Kano, Abuja, Lagos, etc., and they are
offering scholarships to their graduates. They are not Turkish government
schools. The schools bearing “Turkish” are schools belonging to Fethullah
Gulen.
“We are starting a legal process to take the name “Turkish”
out of the name of the schools. They are not the schools of the Turkish
government; they are misleading the public.
The ambassador alleged that the universities were used to
indoctrinate international students including Nigerians by the group. He added, “I have already contacted my counterpart in
Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and I have already requested officially,
both orally and written, for the closure of these schools. Also, I have
informed Mr. Geoffrey Onyema and Mr. Abba Kyari on this subject, requesting
their support on closing down the schools,” he said. The diplomat noted that his country had attached “too much
importance” to the issue.
Sani, in his response, said the Nigerian government would
first investigate the allegations before acting on them.He said, “Those issues you raised are issues someone like me
will like to pursue to the end. We cannot claim to be a democracy and harbour
people who will overthrow government in another country.
But when contacted, the Director of Press and Public
Communication, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Clement Aduku, said he was not
aware of the letter by the Turkish mission. “I have not seen any such of communications yet, but will
find out from our principals if they have seen or received any update on the
matter,” he said in an SMS.
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