By Muss Ilallah
A public affairs analyst can be reached on musahk123@yahoo.com
The news that the Kaduna based self claimed social crusader and activist, Mahdi Shehu has been arrested by the state security service officials, DSS did not come as a surprise to most people.
Rather, it only confirms that the man has been behaving like a loose cannon for years for his baseless and unsubstantiated claims.
After President Bola Tinubu’s visit to France at the instance of President Emmanuel Macron, the rumour mill was agog that France which has fallen out of favour with some West African countries was planning to set up a base in Nigeria.
Amid the back and forth, Mahdi Shehu, released a video to purportedly show that proponents of this theory were correct. Although Shehu deleted the video, it had already gained significant traction online, raising concerns about national security.
In a post which he captioned: “FGN should stop the denial: France armed forces now the official trainers of Nigeria armed forces”, Shehu made several unfounded and unsubstantiated claims.
However, checks by Daily Trust Newspaper showed that the video which Mahdi attached to his post was recorded in 2013. The video captured the moment when the Nigerian Army contingent which was part of the AFISMA (AU) mission landed at the Senou International Airport, Bamako, Mali.
The Nigerian troops subsequently left the airport in buses, one with French flag on the front. Although the incident happened in 2013, Associated Press uploaded it on YouTube on July 31, 2015.
The question to ask is ‘is Mahdi Shehu right that French troops are currently in Nigeria?’
Daily Trust Newspaper checks have also confirmed that Mahdi Shehu’s claim is false and misleading as there is no evidence that French troops are training Nigerian soldiers.
The Nigerian military have also denied Mahdi’s claims describing them as the his imagination and wish.
Now the onus of providing water tight proof with facts, figures and locations of such claims, lies in the hands of Mahdi Shehu. Indeed the time is now or never for Mahdi to come forward with full proof facts to back up his claims.
Going by his antecedents, Mahdi’s integrity is at lts lowest ebb following his many questionable conducts and utterances all in the name of an activist and a social crusader.
What comes to mind readily was Mahdi’s health scandal commonly called medical scam, as his first controversy in an attempt to deceive and escape court trial in 2021. He pleaded ill health as he appeared in court in crutches and his body fully wrapped in bandage and what have you as an invalid.
A statement, issued by Captain Reuben Kovangiya, Acting Deputy Director of Army Public Relations for the Headquarters of theatre Command of Operation HADIN KAI (OPHK), was a direct response to what it described as “baseless, deceptive, and a deliberate attempt to spread misinformation.”
These people who blindly opposed everything President Buhari did, using false numbers and facts- which the former president ignored all the time- are about to realise that Nigerian leaders are not all the same.
