CIA/Africa Division/Lagos Station
 CIA/Africa Division/Lagos Station(CIA/Station)   | |
|---|---|
| Successor | CIA/Africa Division/Abuja Station |
| Headquarters | Lagos, Nigeria |
| Subpage | •CIA/Africa Division/Lagos Station/Chief |
| The CIA's Station for activities in Nigeria | |
The former head CIA's Station station for activities in Nigeria, based under diplomatic cover at the US embassy in Lagos. In the 1990s, it was moved to the new capital Abuja, and Lagos relegated to a base. There are also bases in other Nigerian cities, such as Kaduna in Northern Nigeria.
Contents
Politics
Muritala Mohammed assassination
When military ruler Muritala Mohammed was killed on 13 February 1976, suspicions were widespread that the CIA had a hand in assassination. Mohammed had declined an official visit by U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger which was proposed for May of 1976.[1]
Olusegun Obasanjo
Mohammed's successors was general Olusegun Obasanjo who was Nigeria's military ruler 1976 to 1979 and later as its president from 1999 to 2007. He aligned Nigeria with the United States.[1]
He was a trustee of the African-American Institute (founded by the CIA in 1953)[2]).
At a 1990 World Bank conference, Obasanjo publicly called upon Nigerian leaders to implement mandatory birth curbs barring families from having more than three children, in line with the Kissinger-era National Security Council paper that specifically targeted Nigeria[3][1]
Installing general Babangida
General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida was sent to the US for a military training course, during the Reagan administration. He ruled as military president of Nigeria from 1985 when he came to power in a coup, covertly planned, supported and carried out with the aid of the CIA, against Muhammadu Buhari. As backup, SEAL units were reported to be in Nigeria in August 1985, during the week that Babangida overthrew Buhari. [4]
As president, Babangida devalued the currency, and accepted all the conditionalities of the IMF and World Bank, and aligned the foreign policy with the US. Nigeria was used as a major drug transit and money laundering center for the proceeds of the CIA drug trade.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu
In 2024, the CIA "refused to confirm or deny" the accusation that Nigeria’s then sitting President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was its active asset.[5] in relation to a Freedom of Information lawsuit that requested criminal investigative documents concerning Bola Ahmed Tinubu , Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Abegboyega Akande, and Abiodun Agbele.[6] Previously released documents showed that Edwards, alongside Tinubu, was suspected as a prominent member of a drug mafia that operated in Chicago and the northwestern U.S. in the 1980s. Investigators believed Tinubu was a leader of the syndicate at the time. [7]
Fact checking
Nigeria has plenty of "fact checkers".[8]
Banking
The CIA used a Nigerian bank as a conduit to fund the failed 2016 Turkey coup. The funds were used to win over the generals predisposed to the coup.[9]
Wole Soyinka
The Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, had “unusually close ties to the US government” and met frequently with American intelligence in the 1970s.
In 2002, Caroline Davis, a British scholar based at England’s Oxford Brookes University, allegesd that Africa’s first Nobel Literature laureate was supported by three Central Intelligence Agency-funded organisations: the US-centred Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) and the Farfield Foundation, as well as the London-based Transcription Centre. She further claims that this assistance helped Soyinka’s meteoric rise to international prominence. She notes that CIA-funded conferences prominently featured Soyinka. [10]
During two periods of imprisonment, the Transcription Centre, the Farfield Foundation, and the CCF launched an international campaign to pressure the Nigerian government to release Soyinka. From 1965 to 1966, the playwright was jailed for holding up a radio station at gunpoint to prevent the announcement of a victory speech by Western Region politician, Samuel Akintola, after a disputed election. Soyinka was jailed again for 26 months in 1967-1969 for seeking to mediate a peace deal with secessionist Biafra during Nigeria’s civil war of 1967 to 1970. Davis notes that the three organisations further ensured that Soyinka’s plight was kept alive by Amnesty International, The New York Times, and The Sunday Times.[10]
NED funding
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funding to Nigerian organizations for the period 2014-2021. The International Republican Institute, Center for International Private Enterprise and Solidarity Center are subgroups of the NED giving further sub-grants, a method that makes oversight of the grants harder. In addition, grantgivers such as the Open Society Foundations give additional funds to select groups.[11]
References
- ↑ a b c https://www.nairaland.com/782590/cia-nigeria-politics
- ↑ https://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/lob82-cia-africa.pdf
- ↑ https://archive.schillerinstitute.com/strategic/NSSM200.htm
- ↑ https://www.nairaland.com/892381/some-nigerians-suspected-cia-members
- ↑ https://westafricaweekly.com/foia-cia-confirms-nigerias-sitting-president-tinubu-as-its-active-asset/
- ↑ https://gazettengr.com/fbi-announces-death-of-lee-andrew-edwards-bola-tinubus-consigliere-in-chicago-drug-ring/
- ↑ https://gazettengr.com/fbi-announces-death-of-lee-andrew-edwards-bola-tinubus-consigliere-in-chicago-drug-ring/
- ↑ https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/we-cant-do-alone-nigerian-fact-checkers-teamed-debunk-politicians-false-claims-years-election
- ↑ https://eyeway.ng/2016/07/26/turkey-implicates-uba-in-failed-coup-nigerian-bank-reacts/
- ↑ a b https://guardian.ng/opinion/wole-soyinka-and-his-cia-critics/
- ↑ https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/what-we-do/regions/africa/
- ↑ Nigeria Grants 2015, National Endowment for Democracy. Retrieved via Internet Archive 24 July 2023.
- ↑ Nigeria Grants 2016, National Endowment for Democracy. Retrieved via Internet Archive 24 July 2023.
- ↑ Nigeria Grants 2018, National Endowment for Democracy. Retrieved via Internet Archive 24 July 2023.
- ↑ Nigeria Grants 2019, National Endowment for Democracy. Retrieved via Internet Archive 24 July 2023.
- ↑ Nigeria Grants 2020, National Endowment for Democracy. Retrieved via Internet Archive 24 July 2023.
- ↑ Nigeria Grants 2021, National Endowment for Democracy. Retrieved via Internet Archive 24 July 2023.
