Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government’s denial of plans to host foreign military bases on Nigeria’ soil.
Recall that the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, had said Monday that there were no plans for military in the country.
The ACF’s commendation came as former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bolaji Akinyemi, also rejected the proposed United States and French military bases, saying the development could bring Nigeria into confrontation with another superpower.
In a statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Tukur Muhammad-Baba, yesterday, the ACF said: “Our representatives in the National Assembly should remain alert, ready to emphatically and unequivocally reject any request for approval to set up foreign military bases in Nigeria.
”Citizens, labour unions, professional associations, academia, media organisations, special interest groups, etc., should continue to remain vigilant and ever ready to campaign against the siting ever of foreign military bases in Nigeria.
“The FGN must be appreciated for taking such a bold and reassuring stance. Every African must be such a soothing balm and a thing of pride worth celebrations. For ACF, the development represents a victory for all imminently patriotic Nigerians who signalled readiness to campaign against the ‘rumoured’ plans to host US and French military bases in Nigeria, following their rejection in Republics of Burkina Faso and Niger.
“Still on the issue, ACF is greatly disappointed with an earlier statement, credited to a supposedly non-governmental organisation concerned with promoting human rights, going by the name, the Human Rights Writers Association, HURIWA, supporting the possible establishment of American and French military bases in Nigeria.
”ACF finds such support patently shocking, shortsighted and against everything Nigeria stands for at the moment. We are an independent, sovereign African country in uncompromising solidarity with all sister African, especially ECOWAS, states in the struggles against all vestiges of the intolerable stranglehold of colonialism and neo-colonialism, that have for far too long held down Africa in conditions of underdevelopment.”
Military bases’ll pitch Nigeria against another superpower —Akinyemi
Meanwhile, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bolaji Akinyemi, also yesterday rejected the proposed establishment of the United States and French military bases in Nigeria, saying the development could bring Nigeria into confrontation with another superpower.
Akinyemi, who stated this in an interview on Arise Television, said the idea of the United States establishing a military base in Nigeria was “the last thing Nigeria wants.”
While noting that such a move would maximise Nigeria’s problems. Akinyemi said: “I am shocked about this development and I hope it is not true. We have a long history about attempts at installing a military base in Nigeria.
”This would not be the first time that there would be an attempt to have a military base in Nigeria if it is true that there is such an attempt.
