Niger’s military leader General Abdourahamane Tchiani ended 2024 by accusing Nigeria of plotting to destabilise his country together with France. An X account posted a video claiming to show Nigerians living in neighbouring Niger Republic protesting against an alleged decision by Nigeria’s government to allow France to open a military base in the country. However, the video was filmed during one of the rallies in support of Niger’s coup leaders in August 2023.
“Thousands of Nigerians resident in Niger, took to the streets of Niamey, to register their opposition to the decision of the Nigerian government to allow France to open a base in Northern Nigeria for the express purpose of destabilising Niger and the AES nations,” reads an X post that was published on December 29, 2024, and has been reposted more than 400 times.
Screenshot showing the misleading claim, taken December 30, 2024
AES is an acronym for the Alliance of Sahel States. It refers to the regional coalition formed in September 2023 by Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso after military coups in all three countries put them at odds with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) (archived here).
Niger is Nigeria’s northern neighbour and also the name of one of its states.
Attached to the post is a 27-second video showing a large crowd gathered in front of a building with the French words “Assemblee Nationale” – meaning “National Assembly” – painted on the facade. One person can be seen holding a Russian flag.
Speaking in Hausa, one of the major languages in northern Nigeria, someone in the clip is heard cursing Nigerian President Bola Tinubu while other protesters chant “Ameen” repeatedly — an Arabic version of the English “Amen”.
Similar claims were shared on X here and on Facebook.
Accused of plotting
Tchiani, in an interview with the country’s state media Radio-Télévision du Niger (RTN) on December 25, 2024, accused Tinubu of conniving with France to destabilise Niger (archived here).
He also lashed out at ECOWAS and claimed that France had established a base in Nigeria where it was arming terror groups in the Lake Chad region to foment unrest across the border.
“Nigerian authorities are not unaware of this underhanded move,” Tchiani said. “It is near a forest close to Sokoto where they wanted to establish a terrorist stronghold known as Lakurawa.”
In response, Nigeria’s information minister Mohammed Idris described the allegations as baseless, saying Tchiani’s claims “exist solely in the realm of imagination” (archived here).
“Indeed, Nigeria has a long-standing tradition of safeguarding its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Unlike some nations, Nigeria has never permitted foreign powers to establish military bases on its soil. This demonstrates our commitment to national independence and regional leadership,” Idris said.
Claims that the video shows demonstrations in Niger following Tchiani’s accusations are misleading.
Pro-coup rally
The footage appeared online several years before Tchiani’s accusations.
Using Google Lens to conduct a reverse image search on a keyframe in the video, AFP Fact Check traced the original clip to a 2023 video posted on TikTok by an account called “garkuwadanchadi” (archived here).
The 25-second video was published on August 5, 2023, and captioned in Hausa. It reads “daga Niger repoblic wurin zanga zanga (sic)”, meaning “this is the protest ground in Niger Republic”.
Comparison highlighting “National Assembly” on the parliamentary building in the claim (left) and the original video (right)
A series of pro-coup demonstrations rocked Niger’s seat of power Niamey days after the Tchiani-led junta seized power on July 26, 2023 (archived here).
ECOWAS, which had just elected Tinubu to lead the organisation, gave the military regime a week’s ultimatum to reinstate the previously democratically-elected government by August 6, 2023, or risk military intervention (archived here).
Three days before the deadline, AFP reported that pro-coup demonstrators brandishing giant Russian flags converged at Concertation Square in the heart of Niamey, following a call by a coalition of civil society associations on a day marking the country’s 1960 independence from France (archived here).
Archived photos by AFP show that the demonstration extended to the nearby Niger National Assembly building, where the TikTok video was taken.
AFP
AFP
France has continued to lose ties with its former colonies in the Sahel. French soldiers have already been pulled out of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
In November 2024, Senegal and Chad announced the departure of French soldiers from their soil, while the same action is expected in Ivory Coast before the end of this month (archived here, here and here).
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