The Founder of the Silverbird Group, Ben Murray-Bruce has suggested that a future global conflict—potentially a World War III—will devastate much of the world but leave Africa, and particularly Nigeria, unscathed.

In a live interview with a Global Affairs Expert, Dane Waters, on Tuesday, the former senator stated that a war is “inevitable” due to the rise in violence, nuclear weapons, and the increasing presence of what he described as “trigger-happy” leaders across the world.

He, however, added that Nigeria’s lack of nuclear aspirations and peaceful diplomatic posture would shield the continent from the fallout of any future global conflict.

Murray-Bruce said, “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.

“The beauty of World War III is that it’s not going to affect Africa. Africa will be spared. You guys are going to fight all across the world but we are going to be safe in Nigeria.

“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.”

He went on to suggest that in the aftermath of a global war, Nigeria would be in a position to welcome displaced populations from the West, however, under strict visa conditions.

“So yeah, there’s going to be a World War III, the rest of world will be destroyed and we’ll be happy to welcome Americans, Israelis and Iranians to Nigeria ,” he said.

“And we’ll make sure you all have your visas to come here because we don’t want you to come as immigrants and we don’t want to treat you very badly when you come here but we’re going to treat you well when you come visit us in Nigeria.”

Drawing historical parallels to World Wars I and II, Murray-Bruce suggested that the dangerous pattern could repeat itself.

He said, “I think we are in trouble. I think there’s too much violence in the world today. I think access to weapons is easy. I think we have a lot of trigger-happy leaders across the world, and because they are trigger happy, they don’t care.

“We have lot of despots and crazy people. So, war is inevitable. It goes back to like 1945, 1939, 1917. First World War, second world war, Korean war, Vietnam war.

“I think there are many crazy people in the world and as long as we elect crazy people into leadership positions, this is what we’re going to have because it’s the leaders that cause the war not the people.”

Murray-Bruce’s comments come amid growing regional conflicts. In the Middle East, tensions between Iran and Israel have escalated with both nations exchanging missiles, drone strikes and air raids that have raised fears of a broader conflict.

Meanwhile, the war between Russia and Ukraine continues to rage with no clear end in sight. (The PUNCH, excluding headline)