Former Chief of Army Staff and ex-Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd.), has dropped a warning, alleging that the United States may be scheming to plant a military base right inside Nigeria.
Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at the 7th Annual Lecture of the Just Friends Club of Nigeria, Dambazau linked the sudden flurry of foreign reports accusing Nigeria of persecuting Christians to what he called “a calculated external agenda.”
According to him, the renewed interest by Washington and its allies has little to do with religion, and everything to do with strategy.
“In the more than ten years of US presence in Niger, where it maintained two military bases, what did the US do to prevent the growth of security challenges?” he asked.
“It is also on record that at the initial second coming of the Trump administration, US congressmen accused USAID of terrorism financing in Africa. I think the US is looking for an opportunity to establish an alternative base in Nigeria, a country known to protect only its interests by any means possible, including the use of force.”
The retired general didn’t stop there. He claimed some Nigerians are already playing into the hands of foreign powers.
“Unfortunately, they have willing partners in Nigeria. It is clear that there is a lack of national cohesion in facing a common enemy to address terrorism and criminal violence in the country,” he added.
Dambazau, who once commanded Nigeria’s army at the height of the Boko Haram insurgency, argued that terrorism in Nigeria is not about religion, but about regional instability across the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin.
He pointed to attacks on mosques, clerics, and traditional rulers as proof that both Muslims and Christians have been victims.
Dambazau’s message was clear and cutting: foreign powers are watching Nigeria’s internal divisions, and could exploit them.
He urged Nigerians to stay united and resist being used as pawns in what he described as an unfolding geo-political chess game between global powers.
