A former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd.), on Tuesday, alleged that some Nigerians were willing partners with the United States to set up a military base in Nigeria.
According to him, the ongoing narratives by some foreign actors, including United States politicians and religious leaders, about alleged persecution of Christians in Nigeria may be part of the scheming by America to establish a military base in Nigeria.
Dambazau, who revealed this in Abuja when he spoke at the 7th Annual lecture organised by the Just Friends Club of Nigeria, recalled that America operated military bases in Niger Republic for more than a decade without preventing insecurity in the country.
According to the former Chief of Army Staff, “Unfortunately, they have willing partners in Nigeria. It is clear that there is a lack of national cohesion in facing a common enemy to address terrorism and criminal violence in the country.”
The former army chief, who was Minister of Interior, said insurgency and terrorism in Nigeria are part of broader regional insecurity, particularly in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, and not targeted at a single religious group.
He said both Muslims and Christians have been victims of attacks, recalling past attacks in the North — including the killing of worshippers in mosques, assassinations of Islamic clerics and attacks on traditional rulers — to say that terrorism in Nigeria affects people of all faiths.
Dambazau called for national cohesion to respond to insecurity and warned against allowing external actors to exploit Nigeria’s internal divisions.
He said “In the more than ten years of US presence in Niger, where it maintained two military bases, what did the US do to prevent the growth of security challenges?
“It is also on record that at the initial second coming of the Trump administration, US congressmen accused USAID of terrorism financing in Africa. I think the US is looking for an opportunity to establish an alternative base in Nigeria, a country known to protect only its interests by any means possible, including the use of force.”
