On Saturday, X user Mahdi Shehu shared a long thread claiming France had deployed troops to Nigeria in a bid to eventually establish military bases in the guise of combatting Nigeria’s insurgency.

Shehu claimed that the French troops were received by Olufemi Olatubosun Oluyede, Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), on Friday and they were to be immediately deployed to Borno, one of the states most affected by Boko Haram terrorist attacks.

This is amid public speculations on a recently signed MOU between the Nigerian and French governments. Media reports state that the MOU is to “promote and diversify both countries’ critical minerals value chains in the solid minerals sector”.

However, this explanation has been met with distrust as most Nigerians speculate that the French government is trying to establish a military base in Nigeria after its fallout with former colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Shehu, whose bio reads public commentator, attached a 45-second video to his Saturday post where he claimed depicted the army receiving the French Army on Friday.

Shehu’s post has since received high engagements. By 9:30 am on Sunday, it had been seen 166,400 times, attracted 1,200 likes and also garnered 321 comments and had been bookmarked 369 times.

END OF DENIAL:COMMENCEMENT OF FRANCE MILITARY DEPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA:1. Anytime an official denial is issued by Tinubu’s spin doctors, on any subject, take that denial as an offial confirmation.2. Last week, Chief of Defense staff denied any plan to establish France… pic.twitter.com/7nOqjJZJAE— Mahdi Shehu (@shehu_mahdi) December 14, 2024

Nigerians here, here, here and here expressed concerns about the arrival of French soldiers in Nigeria and Oluyede’s reception of them.

CLAIM

Oluyede received French troops in Nigeria on Friday and they are to be deployed to Maiduguri, Borno State, immediately.

VERIFICATION

To verify this claim posted by Shehu, EQ checked major news platforms in Nigeria and found nothing on the French troops arriving in Nigeria. This also includes the official social media accounts of the Nigerian Army.

The closest thing to a recent foreign army collaboration was the meeting with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Defence University (PLA). That team arrived in Nigeria on Friday.

Furthermore, the 45-second video attached to the post showed someone Shehu’s post claimed to be the COAS receiving foreign soldiers. The Nigerian soldier granted an interview in Hausa.

The audio translation of the clip reads:

They should continue to help us remove the explosive items that this Boko Haram used to put on the road because it used to kill our colleagues.

The use of it, it will help us diffuse the explosives put on the road, so it is essential they should remove it.

EQ also saw that this video first appeared on TikTok, but could not trace the account that first published it because it appears to have been manipulated several times.

The TikTok user button showing the video was pulled from the platform.

Meanwhile, a veteran who served in the military identified the soldiers in the video as officers from the British Military Advisory and Training Team (BMATT).

He explained that the BMATT had been training Nigerian soldiers in the country for more than seven years.

EQ found news reports here and here corroborating this fact about the presence of the BMATT in Nigeria.

Also, EQ noted that the BMATT uniforms found in the video are similar to the ones captured in the media reports. The soldiers spotted the same black beret and green camouflage uniform.

The BMATT’s training and partnership with Nigeria was to help the Army adapt to modern security challenges, including the threat of Boko Haram.

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VERDICT

French troops did not arrive in Nigeria as claimed by Shehu in viral post. The video clip attached to his claims is misleading.

CONCLUSION

Shehu’s claim that French troops arrived in Nigeria in December — and the clip supporting the same — is false.
The post No! Soldiers in Viral X Post Not French Troops Deployed to Nigeria appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.