Middle East Tension: Nigeria Halts Pilgrimages to Israel

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) has suspended pilgrimages to Israel and all other Middle East nations owing to the escalation of tensions in the Gulf region.

The Executive Secretary of NCPC, Bishop Stephen Adegbite, said during a press briefing in Lagos on Tuesday that every pilgrimage of the commission, as well as of the private pilgrimage operators, has been suspended until security in Israel and all the Middle East returns to normalcy.

Bishop Adegbite also assured that the over 500 pilgrims that made up the last batch of the 2025 pilgrimage have safely landed in Nigeria on Tuesday.

Recall that the United States and Israel have carried out waves of airstrikes across Iran, and Iran has retaliated with drone and missile attacks against US-aligned countries across the Middle East.

The campaign has killed several of Iran’s top military and political leaders, including the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran retaliated the death of its supreme leader by targeting US military assets in several Gulf countries, with missiles reportedly striking sites in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The US military has acknowledged the deaths of six service members, while the Iranian Red Crescent Society said more than 500 people have been killed in the country.

This development has made the region unstable and puts Nigerians making pilgrimage to the Middle East at risk.