NEWS

PROF. JEGA, OTHER NOTABLE LEADERS WRITE TINUBU AGAINST US, FRENCH MILITARY BASE IN NIGERIA

Notable leaders in Nigeria including civil society organisations on Friday cautioned President Bola Tinubu against allowing United States and the French governments to relocate their military bases from the Sahel to Nigeria. 

This was conveyed in an open letter to Tinubu and leadership of the National Assembly. The leaders said Nigerian government should not succumb to pressure to that effect.

Prof. Abubakar Siddique Mohammed of the Centre for Democratic Development, Research and Training (CEDDERT), Zaria; Prof. Kabiru Sulaiman Chafe, a former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, representing Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP), Kaduna; Prof. Attahiru Jega, who is a former Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim from Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Abuja; Auwal Musa (Rafsanjani) of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) Abuja; and Y. Z. Ya’u from the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Kano signed the letter. 

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, the letter revealed.

 

Of the countries in the Gulf of Guinea, Nigeria turns out to be the most strategically located, the leaders said in their joint letter. 

The letter read, “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 are indications that the Nigerian Government may be favorably disposed to the proposed defense pact. However, 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. On 22nd December 2023, the last of France’s 1,500 troops deployed in Niamey and two other bases in the tri-frontier of Niger were marched out of the country. On March 16th, 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. 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. As a result of this expulsion, the Gulf of Guinea countries especially Nigeria, are being pressured to compromise their sovereignty by harboring these foreign troops who would come to serve the interests of NATO to the detriment of the national interests and security of the countries of the Gulf of Guinea.

“Nigeria’s civil war experiences when France overtly supported the Biafran secessionists, and the ambivalence of the US should provide our leaders with food for thought. It is important to remember that Nigerians have consistently opposed defense agreement with foreign countries since the 1960s when the Balewa Administration was forced to abrogate the Anglo-Nigerian Defense Agreement, because the agreement contained a clause which allowed the Royal Air force to overfly and test its aircrafts in Nigeria.

The Agreement also allowed the Royal Air Force to station maintenance staff in Nigeria. The Balewa Administration was pressured to abrogate the Agreement because public opinion perceived it as an impairment of Nigeria’s freedom of action which might draw the country into hostilities against it wishes. This remains true.

“In 2001, in his bid to ostensibly re-professionalize the Nigerian army, President Obasanjo almost unilaterally signed the “Military Cooperation Agreement Between the US and Nigeria.” To its credit, the Ministry of Defense responded appropriately by opposing the agreement arguing that, the ministry was not involved in the negotiations between Nigeria and the US, neither were the service chiefs, who could have provided input relating to the syllabus and doctrinal content of the programme. 

The agreement was highly criticized by Lt. Gen. Victor Malu, the Chief of Army Staff at the time, when the US military officers demanded for Nigeria’s strategic doctrine and unfettered access its strategic military locations. 

According to Gen. Malu, those were “exclusive to Nigerians only” adding that “a friend today can be an enemy tomorrow.” Malu was not alone in protest against the agreement. His immediate boss and Chief of Defense Staff, Vice Admiral Ibrahim Ogohi also told a visiting US Air College delegation to his office that “what Nigeria needs is logistic support and not training.” In November 2007, the US renewed its attempt to set up its Africa Command (AFRICOM) in Nigeria.

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