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The National Democratic Front (NDF) has warned Iranian government against sponsoring terrorism in Nigeria and interfering in the affairs of the country as a sovereign nation.
        Reacting to the recent call by Iranian government for the release of  the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Ibrahim El-Zakzakky for treatment in the middle east, the NDF said the demand is a proof of the claim that the Iran government is responsible for violence in Nigeria by the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN). Addressing journalists on Friday, July 26, NDF warned Iranian government to steer clear Nigerian territory. The NDF's secretary general, Bolaji Abdulakdir, said the offer to relocate El-Zakzaky to the custody of Iran is meant to be a soft-landing that will allow him evade justice. Abdulkadir warned security agencies to be vigilant following this offer of a poisoned chalice. He said: "In the past, Iran's response to these assertions that it was sponsoring IMN terrorists consisted mostly of remaining silent. But the pressure that has been piled on Iran has forced it to expose itself as the larger chunk of the problem by being a state sponsor of terrorism." He said Iran has also become frustrated that weeks of violent protest and the assassination of law enforcement officers have not derailed the due process that is in place for the trial of El-Zakzaky.
        Abdulkadir said the offer to relocate El-Zakzaky to the custody of Iran is meant to be a soft-landing that will allow him evade justice and his followers avoid the repercussions of the terrorist crimes they have committed on the streets of Nigeria. He said it is curious that Iran could not reference any extant instrument between it and Nigeria that makes its proposed transfer legally acceptable to Nigeria. We see in this request a further Iranian plot to aggravate the violent street protests knowing that it is not possible for Nigeria to hand over an accused person who is on trial when there is no existing bilateral agreement that covers such," Abdulkadir said. He further called on the federal government to summon the Iranian Ambassador to Nigeria and express our country’s reservations at the misplaced request. He said the transfer request, beyond demonstrating the country’s crass ignorance of Nigeria’s federal and judicial systems, also exposes the rudeness of Iran in thinking itself as a colonial power that can dictate to Nigeria under the pretext of mediating. "We therefore call on the Nigerian authorities to severe all relationship with Iran until that country learns to treat our country as a sovereign nation. "Let us use this opportunity to warm IMN extremists killing people in Abuja that their time is up. They should leave Abuja and sneak back to whatever radicalization camps they came from. We have had enough of their terror on our streets, Abdulkadir noted.