U.S. Troops Won’t Defend Nigeria – Femi Falana

Femi Falana, a human rights activist, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to stop giving Nigerians a “false impression” of a likely intervention by the United States in the country’s insecurity challenges.

Mr Falana stated this at a public lecture marking the 80th birthday of Omotoye Olorode.

“Instead of giving Nigerians the false impression that the United States is going to send troops to defend them, the federal government should be compelled to embark on mass recruitment of military and police personnel, equip and motivate them to defend every part of the country.

“In addition, all state and local governments should proceed to set up defence committees constituted by young men and women in every community to collaborate with the police in securing the lives and property of all citizens,” Mr Falana said.

The legal icon described the worsening insecurity as a “virtual collapse of the security architecture of the neocolonial state due to the diversion of the huge fund earmarked for procurement of arms and ammunition for the armed forces and the police by successive regimes.”

He added that the call to relocate the U.S. African Command (AFRICOM) in Germany to Africa was done without consulting the African Union or ECOWAS.

Mr Falana’s comments came days after Mr Buhari, in a virtual meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, asked the American government to reconsider relocating the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) to Africa.