The Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which runs a global network of schools and companies, is accused of defrauding Nigerians in a "study abroad" scheme. The terrorist group, blamed for July 15's coup attempt in Turkey by its recruited military officers, collected $1.5 million from the coffers of a Nigerian state with the promise of enrolling some 250 students at private schools they run in Turkey, but instead enrolled them in free public schools.

Nigeria is one of the African countries where FETÖ has allegedly wielded broad influence thanks to the large number of companies and schools it operates and its close ties with local officials. According to intelligence reports, FETÖ members contracted with the governorate of Yobe state for a project to have Nigerian students enroll in Turkish schools. The scandalous scheme was revealed when students filed complaints to the governorate after they returned from Turkey and said they were enrolled in public schools instead of private schools and were forced to stay in crowded houses used as informal dormitories by FETÖ. The governorate halted the contract with FETÖ members after the scandal was exposed and cancelled the study abroad program for another 250 students.

Hüseyin Öztunç, a Turkish businessman based in Nigeria and representative of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (MÜSİAD), a Turkish business association, said FETÖ might have pursued the same scheme in other states of Nigeria. Öztunç also points to allegations that the terror cult, which initially disguised itself as a charity movement, even defrauded a senior military official who sought an organ transplant in Turkey in 2012. The unnamed military official was brought to Turkey in a trip arranged by FETÖ members and was booked at a hospital which charged him TL 42,000. FETÖ members told him he was charged $350,000 and took the overcharged portion of the payment.

Öztunç is among the Turkish businesspeople in Nigeria who fights anti-Turkey propaganda by the terror cult there. Öztunç said Gülenists recently started a defamation campaign and tried to incite protests in Nigeria by claiming Nigerian students were arrested in Turkey following the July 15 coup attempt. Nigerian media outlets had earlier claimed that students attending FETÖ-run universities in Turkey were detained for links to the terror group. Turkish authorities have detained and arrested hundreds of FETÖ-linked suspects since the July 15 coup attempt by a small Gülenist junta but no foreigners were implicated in any investigations into the terror group.

Ankara has ordered the closure of FETÖ-run schools and companies following the putsch attempt as part of the state of emergency measures to cut off funds to the terror group. Schools were handed over to national education authorities while students in those schools were allowed to enroll in state-run universities. Turkish officials have denied the detention or arrest of any students from Nigeria. Öztunç said Gülenists spread "false reports on the detention of 54 Nigerian students in Turkey" and paid money to the leader of an influential students organization to organize an anti-Turkish rally.