Outside of business and financial circles, Dangote is not well known in the United States. Perhaps that is largely because his business interests—banking, cement, sugar, salt, agriculture, and manufacturing—are centered in Nigeria and Africa rather than overseas.

Abiy Ahmed's ascension to office in Ethiopia is only the latest development in an attenuated transition process that began with the death of Meles Zenawi in 2012.

President Goodluck Jonathan has refused to say whether he will run for the presidency in 2015, although many Nigerians expect he will. The current efforts among the opposition parties to come togethe…