A video showing Nigerian and French troops offloading supplies in a coordinated manner has gone viral on social media.
The video comes amid mounting controversies around France’s intent in Nigeria.
Earlier in a statement on Thursday, Mohammed Idris, minister of information and national orientation, dismissed claims that Nigeria has ceded parts of the country to France.
The minister issued the statement after allegations surfaced that Nigeria was conniving with France to destabilise the Niger Republic with terrorism.
Weeks earlier, Mahdi Shehu, a public affairs and political commentator, alleged that plans were underway to site a French military base in the northeast after Femi Oluyede, chief of army staff (COAS), reportedly received French soldiers in the country.
However, the defense headquarters labelled the accusations as “baseless”.
Reacting to Idris’ statement on Thursday, Shehu asked the minister to stop the denial.
In a video accompanying the now-deleted post, the hum of engines filled the air as Nigerian troops were seen offloading sacks of supplies, including bags of rice, from trucks, while French soldiers unloaded an aircraft from a cargo plane.
Vehicles rolled by as uniformed personnel moved around, their boots clattering on the tarmac.
Two buses, one with a French flag, were later seen conveying the troops.
Speaking in the video, a Nigerian soldier said the troops had left the peacekeeping centre where they were trained in counterterrorism.
However, TheCable found out that the video has been online since January 2013.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that the troops were part of a military mission from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to assist in a peacekeeping operation in the region.
“There are 156 Nigerians, 100 Togolese, 25 from Benin, and 25 others (from Benin) coming tonight,” a French colonel, according to the AP, said in the video.
The troops had arrived at the Senou International Airport, Bamako, Mali—one of the countries where the peacekeeping mission was expected to operate.
