In 1979, during Olusegun Obasanjo's military administration, the Nigerian government nationalised the assets of British Petroleum (BP) in response to the British government's policy on Zimbabwe. At the time, the British government, under Margaret Thatcher, was hesitant to take decisive action against Ian Smith's white-minority government in what was then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

Nigeria, which strongly supported Zimbabwe's independence movement and the fight against white minority rule, saw Britain's stance as unacceptable. As a result, Obasanjo's government took the bold step of seizing BP's Nigerian assets to pressure the British government into supporting majority rule in Zimbabwe.