|
Listen to article
|
Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) staged a series of coordinated protests in Lagos on Monday, joining a global wave of demonstrations following the confirmed death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The 86-year-old clerical leader was killed in a joint military operation conducted by the United States and Israel, an event that has triggered widespread geopolitical uncertainty and a shift in regional security dynamics.
The early morning procession through the Maryland district, a central transit hub in Nigeria’s commercial capital, saw hundreds of demonstrators carrying portraits of the late Ayatollah alongside banners condemning what they characterized as an unprovoked “invasion” of Iranian sovereignty. While the gathering remained largely orderly, security personnel from the Lagos State Police Command were deployed to the perimeter of the march to prevent disruptions to the morning commute.
The protest mirrored similar actions held in the northern city of Kano on Sunday, underscoring the organizational reach of the IMN across Nigeria’s geographic and religious divides.
The strikes, which began on February 28, 2026, targeted several high-security installations within Tehran, including the Supreme Leader’s residence and key command centers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iranian state media, which initially remained silent during the bombardment, confirmed on Sunday that Khamenei had died from injuries sustained during the “decapitation strike.” In response, the Islamic Republic has initiated a 40-day period of national mourning and moved toward a transition of power within the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body responsible for selecting the next Supreme Leader.
Muftau Zakariya, the South West coordinator for the IMN, addressed newsmen during the Lagos march, framing the military action as a violation of international law. Zakariya’s rhetoric moved beyond the immediate loss of the Iranian leader, drawing parallels between the strikes in the Middle East and what he described as a pattern of foreign interference in sovereign nations. He specifically cited recent diplomatic and military pressures in Venezuela as evidence of a “sustained campaign” of Western interventionism.
Zakariya also used the platform to issue a stern advisory to the Nigerian federal government, calling for a reassessment of its security partnership with the United States. He alleged that the presence of U.S. military advisors and infrastructure in Nigeria has failed to mitigate domestic terrorism and claimed, without providing specific evidence, that recent spikes in attacks in Kwara State were linked to increased foreign involvement in national security affairs.
“Nothing good is coming from the intervention,” Zakariya said, emphasizing a view that such partnerships are driven by economic gain rather than local stability.
Read Also: US Troops Destroy And Sink 9 Iranian Naval Ships
The IMN, a minority Shiite organization led by the cleric Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, has long maintained deep ideological and cultural ties to the Iranian establishment. Since its inception in the late 1970s, the movement has modeled its structure on the principles of the Iranian Revolution, frequently placing it at odds with the Nigerian state. This tension reached a zenith in 2015 during the “Zaria incident,” where a confrontation between the movement and the Nigerian Army led to hundreds of deaths and the multi-year detention of El-Zakzaky. Despite these domestic pressures, the IMN has remained the most vocal proponent of Iranian interests in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The current geopolitical fallout in the Middle East has complicated the security outlook for West African nations with significant Shiite populations. Security analysts in Abuja have noted that while the IMN’s protests remain peaceful for now, the vacuum left by Khamenei’s death could embolden harder-line factions within the movement or lead to a reconfiguration of its funding and support networks.
The Nigerian government has historically viewed the IMN’s trans-national allegiances with suspicion, often categorizing the group as a “state-within-a-state” due to its refusal to recognize the secular authority of the federal constitution.
In Tehran, the official transition process has begun under a veil of high security. The death of Khamenei, who had ruled since 1989 following the death of the Republic’s founder, Ruhollah Khomeini, marks the end of an era for the clerical establishment. Iranian officials confirmed that the strikes also claimed the lives of several senior IRGC commanders, further thinning the ranks of the “Old Guard” that has dictated Iran’s regional proxy wars for decades.
The loss of such a central figure is expected to trigger an internal power struggle between pragmatists and the ultra-conservative wing of the clergy, even as the nation prepares for potential retaliatory strikes against U.S. and Israeli assets.
U.S. and Israeli officials have defended the operation as a necessary preemptive measure against what they described as an imminent threat from Iran’s ballistic missile program. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a joint statement over the weekend characterizing the strike as a “precision effort to neutralize a primary architect of global instability.” However, the United Nations and several European capitals have expressed concern over the lack of a clear exit strategy and the potential for the conflict to expand into a broader regional war.
Read Also: 48 Iran Leaders Killed In US-Israeli Operation – Trump
In Lagos, the IMN leadership indicated that their demonstrations are not a one-off event but the beginning of a sustained regional campaign. Muhammadu Bashir, a prominent leader within the movement, stated that the protests would continue until the 40 days of mourning conclude. He emphasized the group’s commitment to non-violence but reiterated their demand for the total withdrawal of Western military influence from Nigerian soil.
As of Monday afternoon, the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has remained notably silent, neither condemning the strikes nor offering condolences to the Iranian government. This cautious stance reflects the delicate balancing act the administration must maintain between its vital security ties with Washington and the need to manage domestic religious sensitivities.
The next institutional step for the IMN involves the organization of symbolic funeral rites and “Arba’een” processions across major Nigerian cities. Simultaneously, the Nigerian National Intelligence Agency (NIA) is expected to monitor the movement’s communications for any signs of radicalization or direct instructions from a post-Khamenei Iranian leadership.
