The United States has denied any plans to move it’s military base in the Sahel to Nigeria.
The US clarified the matter in an interview with TVC news Tuesday. David Greene, the nation’s chargé d’affaires in Nigeria, refuted the reports, saying he is unaware of such plans.
“I am not aware of any such conversation, and I am not really sure whose purpose it serves to agitate on this point,” Greene said.
He indicated that the two countries already have strong ties and such ties will be maintained.
“We will continue our very strong security cooperation with the Nigerian security services, the Nigerian military, and the Nigerian government, and that will always be in a spirit of partnership and respect for each other,” he added.
The chargé d’affaires revealed that the US has an assistance agreement with Nigeria that covers five years for about $2.5 billion, with a lot of focus on the humanitarian assistance side.
“We are very proud of the cooperation that we pursue through it,” Green said.
Leaders from the north, including Abubakar Mohammed, Kabiru Chafe, Attahiru Jega, Jibrin Ibrahim, Auwal Rafsanjani and YZ Ya’u, had recently, in an open letter to President Bola Tinubu, drawn the President’s attention to the “risks” of entering an agreement to provide military bases for the United States and France in Nigeria.
The northern elders’s warning followed reports of intense lobbying by France and the United States, for Nigeria and other countries in the Gulf of Guinea to sign new defence pacts.
The lobbying is said to be a result of the expulsion of French and American troops from Niger and the suspension of a military agreement between Niger and the United States, including hostilities towards America in Mali and Burkina Faso, as reasons why the countries are looking for allies in the Gulf of Guinea.
