Turkey Warns Tinubu Government Over Presence of CIA-Backed FETO Terror Network in Nigeria

The Turkish government has issued a stern warning to the Bola Tinubu regime regarding the alleged continued operations of the Fethullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO) in Nigeria’s education and healthcare sectors.

According to Ambassador Mehmet Poroy, Türkiye’s newly appointed envoy to Nigeria, the group, founded by the late exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen and designated a terrorist organisation by Ankara, poses a serious threat to national sovereignty and stability wherever it operates.

Unfortunately, the FETO terrorist organisation still maintains its activities in Nigeria, particularly in the fields of education and healthcare,” Poroy said at a dinner hosted by the Turkish Embassy in Abuja to mark Turkey’s Democracy and National Unity Day, commemorating the failed July 15, 2016, coup attempt.

FETO, a global madrasa and NGO network built by Gülen, who lived in self-exile in rural Pennsylvania until he died in 2024, is believed by the Turkish government to have been backed by NATO and the CIA. Initially aligned with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Gülen fell out with Ankara’s leadership before being accused of masterminding the failed military coup in 2016.

Late CIA-backed Mullah Fethullah Gülen, founder of Fethullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO) | Photo: William F. Jasper/The New American

The Turkish government claims the Gülenist network, now banned in Turkey and several allied states, continues to operate under the guise of humanitarian aid, interfaith dialogue, and educational outreach, particularly in countries with weak regulatory oversight of foreign NGOs.

In several countries, including Nigeria, FETO continues to pump its operations under the presence of humanitarian aid, education, healthcare, and interfaith dialogue,” Poroy warned. “Behind this humanitarian appearance lies an organisation that seeks to infiltrate the political and bureaucratic institutions of host countries.”

The network is currently designated a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, Pakistan, Northern Cyprus, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). While Nigeria is a secular state, its membership in the OIC adds geopolitical weight to Turkey’s warning.

Left – right: Turkey’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Mehmet Poroy, presenting a copy of his letter of credence to Ambassador Wahab A. Akande, Chief of Protocol at Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 2, 2025. Photo: Abdullahi Yusuf/Peacemagazine.com.ng

However, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) described Turkey’s stance as part of an “aggressive global campaign against [FETO],” which Ankara alleges continues to enjoy hidden backing from U.S. intelligence agencies. The Gülen network’s value, once estimated at $22–$50 billion in 2010, reportedly increased to between $150–$200 billion by 2016, making it one of the most financially potent non-state networks in the world.

Sibel Dinez Edmonds, a former FBI contract linguist turned whistleblower, was the first U.S. insider to expose Gülen’s ties to U.S. intelligence. In a 2010 exposé, she described his U.S.-based charter schools as a covert expansion of a geopolitical influence network rather than simply education centres.

While Gulen’s suspicious and secretive Madrasas have been shut down and or restrained in countries such as Russia, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, based on these governments’ justified suspicions that his schools had more than just education on their agendas, his rapidly and secretively expanding charter school empire here in the US has gone quite unnoticed and unacknowledged.” Edmonds said.

Despite the urgency of the warning, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) have yet to respond to West Africa Weekly inquiries about FETO’s operations in the country.

However, Poroy’s statements mirror growing concerns about foreign interference in Nigeria’s internal affairs through foreign-funded NGOs and humanitarian organisations, as recently investigated by West Africa Weekly. If FETO’s presence is officially confirmed, it could represent a significant threat to Nigeria’s national security, given the network’s known strategy of institutional infiltration.

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About The Author

Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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