The Nigerian Defence Headquarters has debunked claims that the French military was planning to establish a base in Nigeria, describing rumours that effect as fake, totally false, and mischievous.
The Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba,dismissed the claims in a statement on Monday.
TheFact Daily reports that human rights activist, Mahdi Shehu, at the weekend in a post on X, criticised the government for denying the development, claiming that some French military officers had arrived in Borno State as part of the process to set up the base.
Mahdi’s post read, “Yesterday, the Chief of Army Staff received the first contingent of French soldiers and immediately deployed them to Maiduguri to ‘HELP NIGERIA IN FIGHTING BOKO HARAM.’ The same Boko Haram they claimed to have decimated and are scampering for safety”.
He further asserted that “Nigeria is a new France colony in Africa. Northern Nigeria is its new colony”.
Buba, while urging the general public to disregard these claims and speculations that are still circulating in some quarters, stated that it is clear that it is the antics of mischief makers.
He recalled that the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, recently addressed this matter in different media forums, in which he debunked the news and such speculations.
“Nevertheless, the military will continue to carry out its constitutional responsibilities, most professionally and ensure the territorial integrity of our nation”, Buba stated.
