Last-minute pitch to Mosul voters: Al-Nujaifi rebukes PMF’s head remarks

Shafaq News/ Former Nineveh Governor and senior Mutahidoon (United) party figure Atheel al-Nujaifi pushed back on Monday against recent remarks by Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) leader Faleh al-Fayyadh, accusing him of downplaying past abuses in Mosul.

The rebuke followed al-Fayyadh’s claim, during a symposium at Al-Noor University, that only 4% of Nineveh’s population had ties to ISIS—a statement al-Nujaifi argued would have been significant had it been made when the province was facing what he described as “widespread abuse, harassment, and extortion” under the pretext of anti-terror operations.

“These remarks come after Nineveh has already paid the price in blood and dignity,” al-Nujaifi told Shafaq News. “Now, they sound more like a last-minute pitch to win over Mosul voters ahead of elections.”

Nineveh, with Mosul as its capital, was once the epicenter of ISIS’s grip in Iraq. The city fell to the group in 2014 and served as the nerve center of its so-called caliphate. Iraqi forces, backed by global allies, liberated the city in 2017 after a devastating campaign.