Don’t Allow US, France To Site Military Base In Nigeria, Bring Troops Expelled From Sahel – Civil Society Warns
Civil society organisations in Nigeria have cautioned the leader of the country against allowing the United States and the French governments to relocate their military bases from the Sahel to Nigeria.
The organisation made it known that, the American and French governments have allegedly been aggressively lobbying Nigeria, along with other Gulf of Guinea countries, to sign new defence pacts that would allow them to redeploy their troops, expelled from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
“It is a common knowledge that the American and French governments have been desperately lobbying the governments of Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and Ghana to agree to sign new defense pacts that would enable them to 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 is a widespread apprehension that signing of the pact by Nigeria would have wide ranging implications for defense and internal security of the country.”
