Some northern activists and New Nigeria Peoples Party Party, NNPP, weekend cautioned the Federal Government against signing any military pact with the US and France to pave way for relocation of their military bases to the country.
The northern leaders have actually written President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly, NASS, on why the federal government should not allow the relocation of the military from the Sahel to Nigeria.
Those who signed the letter include Abubakar Siddique Mohammed of the Centre for Democratic Development, Research and Training, CEDDERT, Zaria; Kabiru Sulaiman Chafe of Arewa Research and Development Project, ARDP, Kaduna; Attahiru Muhammadu Jega of Bayero University, Kano; and Jibrin Ibrahim of Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, Abuja.
Others are Auwal Musa Rafsanjani of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, Abuja; and Y. Z. Ya’u of the Centre for Information Technology and Development, CIT
They said it was common knowledge that the American and French governments had been desperately lobbying the governments of Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and Ghana to agree to sign new defense pacts that would enable them redeploy their soldiers expelled from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.
“Some of the troops have been redeployed to Chad but France and United States prefer countries of the Gulf of Guinea that are more strategically located to serve their interests in the central zone of the Sahel.
”Of the countries in the Gulf of Guinea, Nigeria turns out to be the most strategically located. There are indications that the Nigerian government may be favourably disposed to the proposed defense pact.
”However, there is widespread apprehension that signing of the pact by Nigeria would have wide ranging implications for defense and internal security of the country,” they warned.
According to the leaders, on December 22, 2023, the last of France’s 1,500 troops deployed in Niamey, Niger, and two other bases in the tri-frontier of Niger were marched out of the country.
In further: “On March 16, 2024, Niger Republic suspended the military agreement with the United States signed in 2012, which allowed the US to station about 1100 US troops and civilian personnel permanently in Niger, to operate from two American bases in the country.
”American Airbase 101 is located in Niamey, while Airbase 201 is located near the small northern city of Agadez, about 920 kilometers southwest of Niamey.
“These French and American bases were used by the French and the Americans to carry out manned and unmanned surveillance flights and other operations in the Sahel. The bases had become the focal points for Western intelligence and surveillance operations in West Africa.
”The American and French troops were expelled because their presence did not serve any useful purpose. Instead, they were using the defense pact to carry out surveillance operations in the region to serve their geopolitical strategic interests.”