Prominent Nigerian Activist Arrested Over Phantom French Base In Nigeria

Kaduna-based civil rights activist, Dr Mahdi Shehu has been arrested by the Department of State Services, DSS over the circulation of a video purporting to the establishment of a French military base in Nigeria.

It was gathered that the DSS operatives operating from the Kaduna Command picked him up on Sunday night. He is to be arraigned in court on Monday over the circulation of the video which security sources disclosed to have been concotted with the aim of embarrassing the country and instigating a crisis.

According to the video allegedly circulated by Shehu, the French military base was said to have been established in Borno State following the alleged approval of the Bola Tinubu government.

The specific charges being levelled against him have, however, yet to be disclosed but it was gathered that it would border on circulation of fake news based on stirring uprising in the country.

The arrest of the activist, GWG.ng gathered was prompted by what was considered as the inflammatory tone of the video which security agencies allege as an act of deliberate provocation.

The DSS moved against Mahdi following assertions by the Minister of information Mohammed Idris and the Chief of Defence Staff, General Chris Musa that no foreign country has a military base in Nigeria.

One of the issues to be raised against Mahdi is the fact that a military personnel who retired in 2016 was seen in the video which was passed off as a 2024 clip of Nigerian military officials at the French military base.

Madhi’s video which has now been removed from his social media handles appeared to echo the words of the Nigerien military leader, General Abdourahamane Tchiani who had claimed that France was set to destabilise his country from the military base operating from Borno State. That claim was debunked by Nigeria as unfounded.

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