The Federal Government has dismissed claims by the Turkish government about the presence of a new terrorist organisation operating in Nigeria.
The rebuttal comes in response to statements made by Turkey’s Ambassador-designate to Nigeria, Mehmet Poroy, who alleged that members of the Fethullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO) were active in Nigeria, using educational and healthcare institutions as a cover.
Poroy made the remarks during a Democracy and National Unity Day dinner hosted by the Turkish Embassy in Abuja on Tuesday, warning that the group posed a threat to countries where it operates.
“FETO continues its activities in Nigeria, particularly in education and healthcare,” he claimed. “We frequently alert our Nigerian counterparts to the risks posed by this group and encourage vigilance.”
However, speaking to The PUNCH, the Coordinator of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre, Major General Adamu Laka, dismissed the claims, assuring Nigerians that there was no new terrorist group in the country.
“There is no new terrorist group in Nigeria,” Laka said. “Nigerians have no cause for alarm.”
FETO is associated with the late Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally turned critic of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Gulen, who passed away in 2024 at the age of 83, was accused of masterminding the failed 2016 coup in Turkey and was convicted in absentia.
Although the Turkish government has designated Gulen’s network as a terrorist group, international bodies and several countries, including Nigeria, have not classified the organisation in the same way. While Gulen-linked institutions reportedly operate in over 160 countries, there has been no official evidence tying them to terror-related activities within Nigeria.
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