We won’t allow foreign military bases –Northern youths

The Northern Youth Leader’s Forum (NYLF) has warned that the North will never allow “a square meter of its land to be ceded to French or American governments to host military bases under any guise or reason.”

There are reports that the Federal Government was considering approving military bases for the US and France following their ejection from neighbouring Niger.

Some eminent Northerners had equally warned President Bola Tinubu against granting such approval.

But the government through the Information Minister Mohammed Idris said it had no plan to host foreign military bases within its borders, describing it as “false alarms.”

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Speaking to newsmen in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Wednesday, the National President of NYLF, Comrade Afiyo Elliot, said the Northern youths totally opposed the plan.

“We want to state clearly that, we have over the years observed the criminal activities of the French Government against the interest of Nigeria especially in the North East and North West geopolitical zones.

“We also want to state clearly that the Northern youth will never allow a square meter of land in the entire North to be ceded to French or American governments under any guise or reason. If the Federal Government continues with this plan, then the government should be prepared to kill all of us,” Afiyo said.