President Bola Tinubu has been urged not to allow the United States and the French governments to relocate their military bases from the Sahel to Nigeria.
Prominent Northern leaders made the call in an open letter to the President leadership of the National Assembly on Friday.
The prominent northerners include Professor Abubakar Siddique Mohammed of the Centre for Democratic Development, Research and Training (CEDDERT), Zaria; Professor Kabiru Sulaiman Chafe, a former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, representing the Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP) Kaduna; Professor Attahiru Muhammadu Jega, a former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); Professor Jibrin Ibrahim from the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Abuja; Auwal Musa (Rafsanjani) of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) Abuja; and Y. Z. Ya’u from the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Kano.
They advised the Federal Government not to succumb to such pressure.
They revealed that the governments of America and France have maintained aggressive lobbying of Nigeria and other Gulf of Guinea countries, to sign new defence agreements to would allow them to redeploy their troops, expelled from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
They expressed worry that Nigeria, as the most strategically located could give in to this pressure, thereby jeopardising its defence and internal security.
“The recent expulsion of French and American troops from Niger due to their perceived ineffective presence raises questions about the efficacy of hosting foreign military bases,” the open letter said.
The leaders noted that the main objective of these bases, appears to be to combat terrorism in the Sahel, but not achieved, it rather escalated terrorism since those bases were set up.
“It is important to clearly state that there are only dangers and no gains from such military operations.
“The American operations in Niger Republic, for example, were ostensibly to pre-empt and uproot terrorists from the Sahel region. The result has so far been quite unimpressive, if not a complete failure.
“It is apparent that the presence of American troops and other intelligence personnel in Niger Republic is not serving any useful purpose. This is for the simple reason that terrorism, far from abating, has risen dramatically since the US began its operations in the region,” they said.
They warned the FG not to compromise Nigeria’s sovereignty and independence for short-term strategic alliances that may have dire long-term consequences, adding that having foreign troops do leads to increased prices and living costs in local areas, disproportionately affecting the lower-income population.
“Environmentally, the construction and operation of military bases can lead to significant degradation of the local environment. This includes deforestation, soil erosion, water contamination, and loss of biodiversity, which are detrimental to agricultural communities and indigenous populations. The long-term environmental damage could further hinder economic opportunities and sustainable development,” they said.
