The Muslim Public Affairs Centre (MPAC), Nigeria, has thrown its weight behind an international flotilla sailing toward Gaza with food, water, medical supplies, and other relief materials, describing the mission as both a humanitarian lifeline and an act of moral resistance.
The flotilla, which seeks to breach what MPAC called a “brutal blockade,” is aimed at reaching more than two million Palestinians who have endured nearly two decades of siege. MPAC characterized the blockade as a form of collective punishment that has starved Gaza, strangled its economy, and reduced it to “a graveyard for children and a slaughterhouse of hopes.”
In its statement, MPAC singled out the participation of Dr. Fatima Hendricks, a South African cancer survivor and human rights advocate, who has previously spoken at the group’s convention and appeared in its programs. Her presence on the flotilla, MPAC said, symbolized courage and humanity in the face of tyranny.
“Her presence is a beacon of courage and humanity — a reminder that in the face of tyranny, the only acceptable position is to resist, to care, and to stand with the oppressed,” the group said.
The flotilla, MPAC emphasized, is more than a mercy mission. It is also an expression of international defiance against what it described as a calculated war crime. The group listed a litany of Gaza’s deprivations after 17 years of siege: hospitals without medicine, homes without water, families without food, schools destroyed, and children stripped of futures.
MPAC called on Nigeria’s federal government to openly condemn the blockade, demand safe passage for the flotilla, and “assert Nigeria’s moral leadership by standing firmly with the oppressed and against the machinery of cruelty and injustice.”
“The time for silence has long passed,” the organization declared. “Neutrality in the face of genocide is complicity. Every government that fails to speak becomes a partner in crime. Every leader who stays quiet writes their name on the wrong side of history.”
The group said it is praying for the safe arrival of the flotilla and saluted the men and women aboard who had “chosen conscience over comfort, courage over silence, and humanity over fear.”
“The world must break the siege on Gaza,” MPAC said. “The world must let Gaza live.”
The statement was signed by MPAC Executive Chairman Disu Kamor.
