Ben Murray Bruce, the founder of the Silverbird Group, has predicted that World War III is inevitable due to the rise in violence, nuclear weapons and the increasing presence of ‘trigger-happy’ leaders in the world.

Murray-Bruce, in an interview with a Global Affairs Expert, Dane Waters, on Tuesday, said the war would devastate most parts of the world.

He, however, maintained that Africa, particularly Nigeria, would be safe from the devastation.

He said Nigeria’s lack of nuclear aspirations and peaceful diplomatic posture would shield the continent from the fallout of the conflict.

He 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.”

According to Murray-Bruce, Nigeria would be in a position to welcome displaced populations from the West.

He said, “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.

“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.”

The former lawmaker, who represented Bayelsa East Senatorial District, declared that the world is in trouble because of many ‘crazy people in leadership positions across the world.

“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 a lot of despots and crazy people. So, war is inevitable. It goes back to 1945, 1939, and 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 the growing conflict between Iran and Israel.