A former senior adviser to President Bola Tinubu has sounded a stark warning that Nigeria faces real security and economic exposure from the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Middle East, cautioning that the United States-led strikes on Iran have set in motion a chain of instability that will be difficult to contain.
Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who served as a key political adviser in the Tinubu administration, made the remarks as global anxiety deepened following the killing of Iran’s top leadership in coordinated American and Israeli military strikes.
“Nigeria too is in trouble. We are not safe with what is going on in Iran,” Baba-Ahmed said in a statement that quickly gained traction across Nigerian political circles.
The former presidential aide did not mince words in his assessment of the strikes, describing them as a calculated attempt by Washington to redraw Iran’s political landscape.
“The world is by now aware of the fact that two days ago, the United States of America and Israel attacked the State of Iran, killed its leader and a number of very senior political and military officers, as well as a number of other citizens,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed framed the military action as a regime-change operation, one he argued was unlikely to produce the orderly transition its architects had envisioned. “Clearly, the United States had decided to effect regime change, meaning the removal of the entire leadership of Iran and maybe installing a different one, or giving a chance to the citizens of Iran to choose who will next govern them,” he said.
But the former adviser warned that history offers little comfort to those expecting a smooth outcome. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t work as neatly as leaders like President Donald Trump think,” he cautioned.
Baba-Ahmed painted a grim picture of what lies ahead, predicting a prolonged period of regional and global disorder. “What we are likely to have is what we are beginning to see now — a lot of chaos, prolonged crisis, both within Iran and around it, and a lot of uproar around the world,” he said.
His remarks reflect a growing chorus of concern among Nigerian analysts and public figures over the country’s vulnerability to external shocks — from oil price volatility triggered by Gulf instability, to the safety of thousands of Nigerians living and working across the Middle East.
The warning comes as Nigeria’s diaspora agency, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), confirmed it has already received distress calls from Nigerian nationals in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the Federal Government activating contingency evacuation plans in response.
Anti-war protests are also expected in Abuja on Wednesday, prompting the U.S. Embassy to advise all American citizens in the capital to remain indoors, citing a history of violent clashes between demonstrators and Nigerian security forces.
