Nigerian President Bola Tinubu confirmed he sent fighter jets and ground forces into neighbouring Benin to help thwart a coup attempt by a group of Beninese soldiers. His office said Nigeria’s military intervened after Benin president Patrice Talon’s government made two requests for help, including “immediate Nigerian air support”.
Tinubu ordered jets to enter Benin and “take over the airspace to help dislodge the coup plotters from the National TV and a military camp where they had regrouped,” the statement said. Ground troops were deployed later at Benin’s request to assist in “the protection of constitutional institutions and the containment of armed groups.” Tinubu praised the troops for helping “stabilise a neighbouring country.”
Talon appeared on national television saying his security forces had blocked the attempt to overthrow his government. He said loyal forces “stood firm, recaptured our positions, and cleared the last pockets of resistance held by the mutineers,” adding: “This treachery will not go unpunished.” He said his thoughts were with the victims and with people who had been held by the fleeing mutineers, without giving further details.
The unrest is the latest threat to democracy in a region that has seen recent military takeovers in Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea and, last month, Guinea-Bissau. It was an unexpected development in Benin, where the last successful coup occurred in 1972.
Government spokesperson Wilfried Leandre Houngbedji said 14 people had been arrested in connection with the attempt as of Sunday afternoon. A security source told AFP that all the detainees were serving soldiers except one former service member. It was unclear whether Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigri, the alleged coup leader, had been captured. Foreign Minister Olushegun Adjadi Bakari told Reuters the mutineers had only briefly taken control of the state TV network. Residents reported gunfire in parts of Cotonou earlier, but the city was relatively calm by early afternoon.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union condemned the coup attempt. ECOWAS said it had ordered the immediate deployment of elements of its standby force to Benin, including troops from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, the Ivory Coast and Ghana, to help the Beninese government and army “preserve constitutional order and the territorial integrity of the Republic of Benin.”
The attempt came as Benin prepares for a presidential election in April that is expected to mark the end of Talon’s tenure. Last month Benin adopted a new constitution creating a Senate and extending presidential terms from five to seven years. Critics described the changes as a power grab by the governing coalition, which has selected Minister of Economy and Finance Romuald Wadagni as its candidate. The opposition Democrats party, founded by Talon’s predecessor Thomas Boni Yayi, had its proposed candidate rejected by a court for lacking sufficient backing from lawmakers.
Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim, deputy director of the Sahel Project at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera that recent coup bids across the region have been partly driven by governments abandoning democratic responsibilities. “In recent days and recent months, we have all been holding our breath about what could happen in many countries that are either facing security situations that are bad, or are coming to an election, where there is no clarity on whether the rulers will be respecting the rules of the democratic game,” he said. He added that in Benin part of the context is that Talon has agreed to step down while other leaders seek to extend their terms, and that the invalidation of the opposition leader’s candidacy was a troubling element of the story.
