Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos.
He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Ibrahim Traore, the military leader of Burkina Faso.
“Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He’s doing well for his country,” Sanni said.
His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity.
The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022 amid growing anti-French sentiments in the Sahel region.
He has the support of fellow ex-French colonies Mali and Niger, which have turned their backs on Paris in favour of closer ties with Moscow.
The foreign ministers of the three countries were in Moscow last month for the first talks as founding members of their newly-created confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States.
While critics of Traore have blamed his government for clamping down on freedom of expression, others on social media are casting him in a positive light.
“Ibrahim Traore is all the proof Nigerians need to know that a country takes the shape of its leadership,” Nigerian actress and politician Hilda Dokubo wrote on her X account.
Like Sanni, her assessment underscores the growing influence of a coordinated propaganda campaign sweeping across west Africa — one that frames Traore as a messianic figure.
“This growing admiration for Traore in Nigeria poses serious risks to national security and democratic stability,” said Malik Samuel, a senior researcher at the pan-African thinktank Good Governance Africa.
“It normalises military intervention as a viable political solution and opens the door to foreign ideological interference.”
– ‘Russian playbook’ –
Traore’s rising appeal in Nigeria comes at a time of the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu embarked on tough economic reforms.
For Nigerians weighed down by hardship, claims that Traore is transforming Burkina Faso into an economic powerhouse resonate deeply.
“Traore fits the role perfectly — young, defiant, and open to Russian cooperation, especially through Wagner-linked security outfits now rebranded as the Africa Corps,” said Ikemesit Effiong, partner at Lagos-based consultancy firm SBM Intelligence.
AFP has debunked many claims on social media aimed at burnishing Traore’s image.
Recent posts on Facebook purportedly show a massive low-cost high-rise residential block constructed under Traore’s leadership.
However, the claim is false. The construction site seen in the videos is a national building project in Tizi Ouzou, Algeria.
Across Francophone Africa, similar narratives are gaining traction. In Ivory Coast, a video of Traore at the inauguration of a cement plant in Burkina Faso spread alongside false claims he had announced a drop in cement prices.
Months before he was ousted in Niger, former Nigerien president Mohamed Bazoum said Russia’s Wagner Group had been sponsoring “disinformation campaigns against us”.
Analysts told AFP there are signs of organised, large-scale campaigns using false information to boost the profiles of Sahelian military leaders.
The content is produced by “Russian propaganda units and then given to these influencers, through the middlemen, to post on social media,” said Philip Obaji, a Nigerian journalist who has analysed Russian influence operations.
According to Effiong, this reflects a wider “Russian strategy” in Africa of leveraging social media to influence public opinion, bolster the image of military regimes, and portray Moscow as a more respectful alternative to Western powers.
– Silencing critics –
Since the last coup in the region in July 2023 in Niger, Russian flags have become fixtures at pro-junta rallies in the region. At least 90 people flying the same flag were arrested in northern Nigeria during a protest against economic hardship in August 2024 .
Unlike the stable and thriving country portrayed on social media, Burkina Faso has become caught in a spiral of violence that has spilled over from neighbouring Mali and Niger.
Since 2015, regular attacks by armed jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have claimed tens of thousands of lives in Burkina Faso.
According to the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) 2025, Burkina Faso is the country most impacted by terrorism — topping the chart for the second consecutive year.
Dissenting voices like journalists have been regularly silenced, detained, or kidnapped in the name of the war against jihadists.
Maixent Some, an exiled Burkinabe financial analyst who tracks Africa-linked disinformation on social media, has accused Traore of failing his country and was declared wanted by the junta in April.