For Nigeria's Shia, the US-Israeli war on Iran is personal

For Nigeria's Shia, the US-Israeli war on Iran is personal Submitted by Ghazali Ibrahim on Mon, 06/01/2026 - 13:56 The pro-Iran protests held across Nigerian cities are less about geopolitics and more about belonging A man drives a bicycle near Kano Pillars Stadium after the Eid al-Fitr prayer, Nigeria, 30 March 2025 (AFP) Off On a hot afternoon in March, a procession of hundreds of men wound through major streets in the Nigerian city of Kano, dressed in black and bearing portraits of the assassinated Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and waving Iranian flags. Their chants echoed through the northern city as they condemned US-Israeli attacks on Iran, declaring solidarity with what they described as “a nation under oppression”. For onlookers in roadside shops and passing buses, the protest looked like something lifted from a film about events unfolding thousands of kilometres away.