First Publish: 9/11/2014 (..) A month before the rallies, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had sent military and intelligence hardware to Nigeria to help the army in its search for the missing schoolgirls. After the abduction of the Israeli youths, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan sent a letter to Netanyahu condemning the act and demanding their immediate release.

Nigeria and Israel have not always enjoyed such a healthy relationship. In the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, relations came to an abrupt end when Nigeria’s military government cut ties with Israel to comply with a resolution passed by the Organisation of African Unity, the precursor to the African Union set up in 1963.