Get Guardian on GoogleIslamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, on Monday, warned the Federal Government to be vigilant over reported Ukrainian military activities in Africa.
The cleric said that although there was no confirmed evidence of Ukrainian military presence in Nigeria, the country should not dismiss the possibility, particularly amid allegations of Kyiv’s involvement in conflicts across the Sahel region.
Gumi disclosed this in an interview with CAJ News Africa, where he expressed concern over reports that Ukrainian military intelligence operatives had deployed specialists to conflict zones in Africa to train and support armed groups.
He said that Nigeria must guard against possible foreign interference in its internal security.
Gumi said: “Since the Sahel is complaining about the presence of Ukraine, I think for us, Nigeria, we have not yet really confirmed their presence here. But it’s something that we cannot rule out. It’s something to watch.
“A September 12 investigation by CNN reported that around 15 Ukrainian specialists had been deployed to northern Mali to assist Tuareg separatist forces fighting Russian troops.
“According to the investigation, fighters from Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso had also travelled to Mali to receive drone training from Ukrainian instructors. CNN further reported the presence of Ukrainian specialists in Sudan and Ukrainian naval drone operators in Libya.
“In Libya, Ukrainian personnel based in Misrata reportedly used naval drones against vessels linked to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet while also training local forces.”
Ukraine’s military intelligence makes no secret of its global ambitions. This was openly acknowledged by Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s former military intelligence chief and now head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office.
In a post marking Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Day on September 7, Budanov described the agency’s activities as extending far beyond the country’s borders, “from Russia to Africa”, including “the scorching sands of deserts”. The post also featured photographs of armed men in a desert setting.
Accusations of Ukrainian involvement in the region are not new. In a letter dated August 19, 2024, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger asked the UN Security Council to address what they described as Ukraine’s support for international terrorism in the Sahel.
The three governments referred to statements by Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov following the July 2024 attack on Malian and Russian forces near Tinzaouaten. They accused Kyiv of supporting armed groups. These remain allegations, not findings by the United Nations. Ukraine denied substantial cooperation with the rebels.
The allegations resurfaced in September 2026 when Niger’s Prime Minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, accused France of attempting to destabilise the Central Sahel with what he described as Ukraine’s “active complicity” during an address to the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Zeine said: “This perfidious attempt to destabilize the Central Sahel, conducted by France with the active complicity of Ukraine, is now widely documented.”
The allegations paralleled reports of a job posting for a security specialist to work in the “northern Ghana/southern Burkina Faso” region. The private security company Fjärrstridsgrupp Alfa posted an ad for a two-month assignment at $360 per day, seeking a specialist fluent in French and Russian, capable of reconnaissance and target identification.
Gumi said Nigeria had not established substantial evidence of Ukrainian involvement on its territory but should not dismiss the possibility.
He also questioned how Boko Haram and other armed groups obtained ammunition, bombs, improvised explosive devices and anti-aircraft guns.
Gumi added, “Definitely there is somebody foreign that is assisting them,” he said, recalling a former Nigerian Defence Minister’s statement that euros and dollars had been found on captured Boko Haram members.”
Gumi urged the Federal Government to strengthen border security and prevent foreign interference.
He added, “Nigeria is a non-aligned nation, neither West or East. But at the same time, any nation that is assisting and aiding rebels, like we have seen governments in these three Sahel countries complaining, Nigeria should be very worried.”
Another concern is the possible leakage of Western weapons supplied to Ukraine into conflict zones, particularly in Africa.
In his remarks, the Egyptian military and strategic expert, Major General Hamdi Bakheet, warned of this risk in comments to Cairo 24. According to him, Kyiv has become a potential supply and transit hub for weapons reaching recipients beyond Ukraine’s borders.
He cautioned that when active hostilities decline, weapons may either be smuggled abroad or accumulate in domestic stockpiles, threatening Ukraine and neighbouring countries.
Bakheet said: “Arms traders don’t limit themselves to domestic markets but seek buyers abroad. Clear examples are Sudan and Libya, which are overflowing with weapons due to internal conflicts and external supplies.”
He also warned against a repeat of the Afghan scenario of the 1980s and 1990s, when massive arms inflows created illegal arsenals that fuelled instability for decades.
He noted that Institute for Security Studies has also referred to reports of Ukrainian drone instructors in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. Meanwhile, techniques for modifying commercial quadcopters and FPV drones are spreading across the region.
Gumi’s warning adds to calls for stronger border surveillance, intelligence-sharing and closer monitoring of foreign military activities as geopolitical competition increasingly intersects with security challenges across the continent.
