The moment President Muhammadu Buhari urged the United States Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken during a meeting on Tuesday, to relocate the Africom base from Stuttgart in Germany to Africa where it would be closer to various theatres of operations, curiosity has overtaken ignorance in a bid for many to understand what this means.
What is Africom and should the idea of it coming to the shores of Africa excite anyone who cares about the security of the African continent in these current times?
To answer this question, one needs to understand a little bit of history.
Since 2007 when conversations started about the creation and launch of an African Command Center positioned on African soil to help mitigate threats of terror in 2008, eyebrows have constantly raised from within Africa and abroad for reasons tied to fears of an alarming step forward in the militarization of the African continent by the United States.
What seems interesting is that in 2009, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s opposition to the presence of Africom on West African soil did not surprise many especially because certain experts on international affairs continued to suggest at that time that the USA did not have to be physically present on the continent to aid or protect its oil interests in Africa.
So what has changed from 2009 to 2021 and why is President Buhari suddenly changing the lyrics to the songs of opposition by Nigeria? While the reactions are awash in both support and criticism, the reason for the u-turn seems quite obvious.
Some say the recent culture of insecurity in different parts of Nigeria looks to be the most obvious reason, especially after very loud calls were made from the senate yesterday during plenary, asking the president to immediately seek for foreign help in order to nip the issue in the bud.
Others wonder if Africom or foreign intervention means that Nigerians would firstly get a full disclosure of an audit into arms purchases by the Buhari-led administration in order to quell suspicions in the public about alleged corruption in the military which has been rumoured to have greatly placed our men at the vanguard in the fight against terror on the wrong footing.
There are also paradigms suggesting that this decision which resembles a shameless cry for help could be interpreted to be a sign of surrender by the federal government, having thrown all it had at the war which has now caused havoc in our country.
Questions are also brewing as regards the initial fears of increased military occupation by a foreign power on african soil and why such worries have been binned due to desperation in solving the security crisis bedeviling Nigeria and other west African nations at this time.
At what cost would we be willing to woo the relocation of Africom by the USA? Will foreign intervention solve this problem but leave more issues for Africa to deal with as suggested by experts in 2009?
Or were past African leaders shortsighted and wrong about Africom which may now be the final nail in the coffin for terrorists in Africa? Time reveals all.