Mahdi Shehu, come forward with facts

The news that the Kaduna-based self-claimed social crusader and activist, Mahdi Shehu, has been arrested by the state security service officials, DSS, did not come as a surprise to most people.

Rather, it only confirms that the man has been behaving like a loose cannon for years for his baseless and unsubstantiated claims.

After President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s visit to France at the instance of President Emmanuel Macron, the rumour mill was agog that France which has fallen out of favour with some West African countries was planning to set up a base in Nigeria.

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Amid the back and forth, Mahdi Shehu, released a video to purportedly show that proponents of this theory were correct. Although Shehu deleted the video, it had already gained significant traction online, raising concerns about national security.

In a post which he captioned: “FGN should stop the denial: France armed forces now the official trainers of Nigeria armed forces”, Shehu made several unfounded and unsubstantiated claims.

However, checks by the Daily Trust Newspaper showed that the video that Mahdi attached to his post was recorded in 2013. The video captured the moment when the Nigerian Army contingent which was part of the AFISMA (AU) mission landed at the Senou International Airport, Bamako, Mali.

The Nigerian troops subsequently left the airport in buses, one with a French flag on the front. Although the incident happened in 2013, the Associated Press uploaded it on YouTube on July 31, 2015.

The question to ask is ‘Is Mahdi Shehu right that French troops are currently in Nigeria?’

Daily Trust Newspaper checks have also confirmed that Mahdi Shehu’s claim is false and misleading as there is no evidence that French troops are training Nigerian soldiers.

Now the onus of providing watertight proof with facts, figures and locations of such claims, lies in the hands of Mahdi Shehu. Indeed, the time is now or never for Mahdi to come forward with foolproof facts to back up his claims.

What comes to mind readily was Mahdi’s health scandal commonly called a medical scam, as his first controversy in an attempt to deceive and escape a court trial in 2021. He pleaded ill health as he appeared in court in crutches and his body fully wrapped in bandages and what have you as an invalid.

A statement, issued by Captain Reuben Kovangiya, Acting Deputy Director of Army Public Relations for the headquarters of theatre command of Operation HADIN KAI (OPHK), was a direct response to what it described as a “baseless, deceptive, and deliberate attempt to spread misinformation.”

Musa Ilallah, a public affairs analyst, can be reached at [email protected]