By Ipole Amajama
The protesters had been like scenes taken immediately from the Kremlin’s playbook on Africa as they waved Russian flags in Kano, Abuja and a few northern states within the Finish Unhealthy Governance protests in Nigeria in 2024. On the floor, it was just a few disgruntled residents protesting in opposition to the Nigerian authorities. However most likely, it factors to International Info Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) within the nation.
The protestors, primarily northern Muslims, maybe influenced by the a whole bunch of reels regaling Burkina Faso strongman, Ibrahim Traore, and the wonderful daybreak of the nation no due to his alliance with Russia, had been persuaded that their solutions lie with Vladimir Putin. In a area tormented by international interference and democratic decline, Traoré’s AI fiery message resonates with disillusioned youth. Regardless of mounting violence and authoritarianism, many view him as a daring challenger to Western dominance they blame for his or her hardships. Fallacious!
One can pardon the ignorance of the protestors and the a whole bunch of disenchanted youths in addition to the juntas of the Alliance of Sahel States, AES, on the continent for trying to the Kremlin because the lengthy awaited saviour from the {economic} and social ironies which are telling and have grow to be hallmarks of a continent seeking that means and objective. A historic context is germane in situating the Greek Horse that’s the Kremlin’s “love” for Africa and Africans particularly Islam.
Historical past signifies that the Russian state constantly institutionalized, coopted, and managed Islamic authority from the Volga-Ural space to the Caucasus and Central Asia and is increasing that affect to Africa. It is very important perceive this lengthy trajectory in order to make clear the character of latest Russian energy and its non secular coverage, together with why and the way it makes use of non secular infrastructure to legitimize authority and suppress dissent and why unbiased Islamic scholarship and nationally oriented elites stay structurally constrained. Russia has once more leveraged non secular narratives and establishments to meet its mobilizational and propaganda goals in Ukraine. Do they seem like a rustic that retains to discount?
What Africans ought to understand by now’s that the Kremlin is in an influence mongering race just like the West. However in its case, it’s brutal, inane propaganda and leaves the conquered additional impoverished, denuded and extra divided. It brokers no democracy. It’s steeped in authoritarianism and brute face. Opposition is an anathema and Putin is the supreme chief. Is that this the destiny that misguided Africans need for the continent? Sure, the West itself can’t be excused from a few of these, however they’re benign and provides partnership alternatives opposite to what Moscow provide.
Students have argued, and rightly so, that Putin’s rapprochement with Muslims is inseparable from the technique of geopolitical enlargement, and the restoration of the glories of the traditional empire in its areas of affect within the Balkans and different areas with Islamic presence. What Moscow is doing is an try to counter the encroachment and enlargement of the European Union and NATO. Russia is making an attempt to beat the errors of the previous by alienating hundreds of thousands of Muslims.
For individuals who could not know, for many years, the Russian State waged a conflict of attrition in opposition to Chechnya. It was a cruel, savage battle that killed tens of hundreds of civilians, primarily Muslims, in Chechnya. Historians say that the First Chechen conflict served as a prologue to different conflicts unleashed by the Kremlin, together with the conflict in Ukraine. The bloody marketing campaign continued with various success till the tip of August 1996, adopted by Second Chechen conflict, which cemented Russian President Vladimir Putin’s energy. So, you see {that a} legacy steeped in blood and aggression doesn’t bode properly in the long term.
What the Russian Federation is doing in Africa is transactional democracy and it’s about time that international locations on the continent shun the Kremlin and search for extra constructive engagements. With the continuing conflict in opposition to Ukraine in its fifth 12 months now, Moscow has not shied away via International Info Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) to lure determined, younger Africans to their deaths on the frontlines as a substitute of the profitable jobs on provide.
It’s commendable that some African international locations are starting to point out rising indicators of irritation with Moscow for luring their residents to battle and die on the Russian military’s frontlines.
As at February 2026, the investigative journalism group INPACT estimated that over 1,417 Africans had served within the Russian military or mercenary organizations, and 316 had died in fight. If Africans fought in wars and conflicts for European colonial powers within the 18th, nineteenth and even twentieth Centuries, why ought to any African be caught within the internet of Russia’s aggression within the twenty first Century? For too lengthy have Africans suffered for the ambitions of different continents and get little or no recognition.
It’s consoling that African international locations are talking out in opposition to the execrable recruitment of Africans in Russia’s conflict in Ukraine. Ghana’s international minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, in January was quoted as saying that almost 300 Ghanaians had been drawn into the combating, many lured by job provides that grew to become army deployments. Based on Ablakwa, 55 of them had died. “They haven’t any safety background. They haven’t any army background. They haven’t been educated,” he mentioned in a information convention. “They had been simply lured and deceived after which placed on the frontlines.”
Equally, a February intelligence report back to Kenya’s parliament detailed that 1,000 Kenyans had been recruited to battle for Russia, and 89 had been on the frontlines as of that point. It additional famous that one Kenyan had died, 39 had been hospitalized, and 28 had been lacking in motion. International Minister Musalia Mudavadi referred to as the trafficking “unacceptable and clandestine” and referred to as for an Bargain with Moscow barring the recruitment of Kenyans.
Furthermore, it hasn’t been simply the Russian authorities doing the recruiting. Information experiences point out the Russian Orthodox Church in Kenya, which now has a rising presence there, had inspired residents to journey to Russia.
Equally, South Africa, a BRICS member nation that has preserved sturdy ties with Russia, introduced February 26 that two of its nationals had died combating for Moscow. International Minister Ronald Lamola visited the households of 11 residents whose return to South Africa had been negotiated. The lads had been promised safety coaching in Russia. In November, officers had acquired a name for assist from South Africans who mentioned they had been trapped combating with Russian mercenaries in Donbas.
Nigeria’s International Ministry likewise warned its residents in February in opposition to combating in international conflicts. The ministry didn’t identify Russia, however mentioned a number of Nigerians “had been deployed to fight zones after being misled and coerced into signing army service contracts.”
Nigerians particularly, and Africans on the whole must by now scent the espresso and realise that their destinies don’t lie in the direction of Moscow, fairly amongst themselves and will decide the plough and work out their salvation just like the Bible says.
Amajama, a social commentator, writes from Abuja and could be reached through amajamaip@gmail.com