Former Nigerian senator and founder of Silverbird Group, Ben Murray-Bruce, predicted that a third world war is likely to occur, citing rising international tensions, the spread of nuclear weapons, and the increasing number of unstable global leaders as key reasons.
He made these comments during a live interview with global affairs expert Dane Waters on Tuesday.
“We’re in big trouble, and as long as we have the kind of leaders we have in the world today, I see World War Three coming, and it’s going to be terrible,” Mr Murray-Bruce said.
According to him, the war breaking out will cause widespread destruction worldwide. However, he believes Nigeria and much of Africa will be spared.
“The beauty of World War III is that it’s not going to affect Africa. Africa will be spared,” he said.
“Nobody is going to be fighting in Nigeria because we have no territorial ambitions, we have no desire to acquire nuclear weapons, we don’t want to fight anybody, we’re friends with all our West African neighbours.”
Mr Murray-Bruce explained that Nigeria’s peaceful foreign policy and lack of military aggression make it an unlikely target in global conflict.
He also said that Nigeria could become a refuge for people fleeing war zones, particularly from Western and Middle Eastern countries.
“There’s going to be a World War III, the rest of the world will be destroyed, and we’ll be happy to welcome Americans, Israelis and Iranians to Nigeria,” he added.
“And we’ll make sure you all have your visas to come here because we don’t want you to come as immigrants… but we’re going to treat you well when you come visit us in Nigeria.”
Ben Murray-Bruce, who represented Bayelsa East Senatorial District in Nigeria’s National Assembly, linked the present global situation to the periods that led to previous major wars.
“I think we are in trouble. There’s too much violence in the world today. Access to weapons is easy. We have a lot of trigger-happy leaders across the world, and they don’t care,” he said.
“It goes back to 1945, 1939, 1917- First World War, Second World War, Korean War, Vietnam War. As long as we elect crazy people into leadership positions, this is what we’re going to have. It’s the leaders that cause the war, not the people.”
