The minister equally described the continual military actions of Israeli forces in Gaza as ‘unacceptable’.
Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister, Yusuf Tuggar has opined that Palestine should be allowed to exist as a sovereign independent country.
Mr Tuggar who said this during an exclusive interview with AlJazeera mentioned Israel has no right to stop Palestinian citizens from having their country separated from Israel.
The minister equally described the continual military actions of Israeli forces in Gaza as ‘unacceptable’.
He said, “There is no justification for the carnage that is going on in Gaza. It has to stop. There is no justification for the complete disregard for the proportionality of force that is being meted out on innocent civilians, on kids on children, on babies on women.
“Nigeria has been consistent with its support for a two-state solution. The state of Palestine has every right to exist as an independent sovereign nation, the same way that Israel has a right to exist as an independent sovereign nation.
“But this carnage is completely out of hand and totally unacceptable. There is no way to explain the double standards; it has to stop.”
The minister explained that the non-aligned stance of Nigeria has been the policy of the state of Nigeria since its independence in 1960.
“Nigeria was part of the non-aligned movement and has remained so and at the moment we’re currently practicing what is now referred to as strategic autonomy,” he said.
“We get along with all countries, and we’re not the only country that has that policy. Nigeria has always been an independent sovereign nation. So we are not compelled to follow any other country’s lead. We do what is right for our people, what’s in the interest of our people.”
He said it was for this reason the country did not take a side in the Russia-Ukraine war.
“We get along famously with both of them [the US and Russia]. They also don’t have a problem with us being autonomous, being an independent country, with the freedom to maintain relations with all nations.”