Nigeria is the USA’s Great Black Hope in Africa. It provides the greater part of the ECOWAS troops that are supposed to be invading Niger in response to the anti-Western coup there, and it is the most formidable true African military force, being rated ahead of both Sweden and Iraq in the 2023 global military rankings.
(I don’t count either Egypt or South Africa as a proper African military, for reasons that should be obvious.)
However, it’s pretty obvious that something is going on inside Nigeria, and I suspect that at least an attempted military coup there is in the offing.
A press release published by Presidential Adviser Ajuri Ngelale on Saturday said that “President Bola Tinubu has directed the recall of all career and non-career ambassadors from their duty posts worldwide” with immediate effect. According to the document, the decision was made as a result of a “careful study of the present state of affairs at Nigerian Consulate Offices and Embassies worldwide.” The stated aim of the measure is to ensure that Abuja’s diplomatic missions deliver “world-class efficiency and quality.”
Tinubu, who assumed office in late May this year, has since replaced Nigeria’s defense chief, along with the heads of the army, navy, and air force. In June, the president also dissolved the boards of federal government institutions, agencies, and state-owned enterprises.
Nigeria suspends almost all diplomatic missions, RUSSIA TODAY, 3 September 2023
It’s pretty clear that Russia and China are working quietly to establish a number of new tertiary fronts that methodically drain Western military resources. But whereas removing Niger from the colonial collection primarily weakened France, the removal of Nigeria would essentially secure the elimination of Western influence from the entire continent.
The West can’t afford to lose Nigeria, which it is relying upon to keep the other African states in line. Which is why I expect Nigeria to be the central point of conflict of WWIII’s African front.