Nigeria denies plans to host American and French military bases

Nigeria’s government has no intention of allowing the US and France to build military bases in the West African country, Information Minister Mohammed Idris said in a statement on Monday.

This comes in response to claims that Abuja was in talks with Washington and Paris about accepting American and French forces that have recently been kicked out of neighboring Niger.

France withdrew its troops from Niamey in December, following previous withdrawals from Mali and Burkina Faso on the orders of the former colonies’ rulers. All three military leaders have accused Paris of meddling and failing to combat extremist violence during its decade-long security mission in the Sahel region.

The Pentagon announced late last month an “orderly and responsible withdrawal” of forces from Niger while considering other options for continuing counterterrorism missions in the African region. This followed the termination of the 2013 security pact by Niger’s military government that had allowed some 1,000 American troops to operate in the Sahel state.

On Friday, a group of northern Nigerian leaders and civil society actors in Nigeria wrote to President Bola Tinubu, warning him to resist alleged pressure from the US and France for the soldiers to be relocated to the country.

Signing a defense pact with the Western governments would pose a “profound threat” to the country’s sovereignty, the group reportedly said.

Bolaji Akinyemi, a former Nigerian foreign affairs minister, told local broadcaster Arise News in an interview published on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday that the move would only worsen insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation.

“I know that we have problems with the jihadists, with ISIS... We have security problems, yes, but the solution is not for us to be in confrontation with another superpower. We will simply maximize our problems,” Akinyemi said.

However, Nigerian government spokesman Idris described the concerns as “false alarms,” urging the public to “totally” disregard it.

“We have neither received nor are we considering any proposals from any country on the establishment of any foreign military bases in Nigeria,” the minister stated.

Nigeria has previously rejected the idea of hosting the US African Military Command (AFRICOM), whose mandate is to protect America’s strategic interests on the continent and assist host nations with military training and conflict prevention.

While rejecting the move in 2007, Nigeria’s president at the time, Umaru Yar’Adua, expressed opposition to AFRICOM establishing a presence elsewhere in West Africa. There had been widespread concerns from countries including Libya and South Africa, with critics claiming Washington intends to expand its influence on the continent and may prioritize protecting oil interests.