Nigeria and the failed coup d’etat in Benin Republic, by Ayuba Ahmad
Penultimate Sunday, 7th December, 2025, the usual serenity of the Benin Republic was ruptured by the sounds of guns and heavy arms fired by a group of the country’s Army in a bid to forcefully take over the reins of political power from President Patrice Talon.
The leader of the renegade troops, Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigri described those behind the putsch as members of the Military Committee for Refoundation, giving as reasons for the action, poor management of the country’s affairs by President Talon, neglect of soldiers killed in action, cuts in healthcare budget, increased taxes and, restrictions on political activities.
With the resistance of loyal forces and the deployment of air assets by the Nigerian Air Force, the coup d’etat was aborted before nightfall on the same day. While about thirteen of the coupists were arrested, about two people, including the wife of the Director of the Military Cabinet, Bertin Bada.
Based on the request of the Beninese government, ground troops of the ECOWAS Stability Force were later deployed from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire to complement efforts of the Beninese Army in ensuring stability.
Benin Republic has not had many major disruptions in its political setting since its independence in 1960 from French colonial rule. The country has also experienced sustained, uninterrupted democratic governance since the 1991 multiparty election. Thus, the reason for the classification of the country as “one of Africa’s stable democracies.”
The failed Beninese coup d’etat occured barely one week after the dubious, clearly contrived military takeover in Umaro Sissico Embalo’s Guinea-Bissau. If Pascal Tigri’s mission had succeeded, the Benin Republic would have joined the other African nations under military rule: Mali, Niger, the Central African Republic and Burkina Faso.
Cotonou would also most likely have teamed up with Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso in the Alliance of the States of Sahel, AES, the confederation of three countries that opted out of the ECOWAS in 2023. Such a development would certainly not have been in the best interest of Nigeria.
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As it is, the coup attempt in the Benin Republic has been roundly condemned by various eminent personalities within and outside the country. Two former Beninese leaders, Thomas Boni Yayi and Nicephore Soglo, while condemning the coup attempt as shameful, also expressed solidarity with President Talon.
The United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guteress similarly described the action as unacceptable and ruinous to the stability of the West African subregion. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement that the world body “unequivocally condemns any attempts to undermine democratic governance in Benin and calls for the rule of law and the constitution.”
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s role
In thwarting the Beninese Army’s attempt at overthrowing the government of President Patrice Talon is in perfect consonance with the position of the rest of the world. It was also in line with the country’s precedents in similar situations in the subregion in the past.
As recently as 2017, late President Muhammadu Buhari actively intervened in the Gambia to ensure compliance of former President Yaya Jamey with the results of the election in which he was defeated. Way back to the era of military regimes, Nigeria had also played an active role in the restoration of peace and stability in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The latest act of Nigerian military intervention in the wake of the coup was an action taken in the context of the country’s established foreign policy which places emphasis on West Africa and the African continent as the priority focal point of attention.
Furthermore, doing what Nigeria did in the Benin Republic was also an exercise taken in the country’s best interest. With the unfolding political developments and global power dynamics playing out in the subregion, Nigeria’s democracy could be in great jeopardy if another democratically elected government next door is torpedoed by a military dictatorship.
The coup attempt in Benin was a negative portrayal of Africa in the international space that should be averted by the rest of the continent. As a leading member of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, and the African Union, AU, President Bola Tinubu deserves to be applauded for his swift decision to stop the Benin military adventurers from succeeding in their nefarious mission.
Nigeria has been criticised for its ineffective use of its air power in precision bombings of targets of the renegade troops in the Benin Republic, but has not been able to apply the same strategy against the various terror groups in the country. This apparent contradiction may not be unconnected to the fact that the two scenarios are very different from each other.
Unlike the situation of guerrilla warfare that the Nigerian military is facing in the campaign against the bandits and insurgents who, additionally operate from the cover of the forest, the rebels in the Benin Republic on the other hand, were visible targets from the air as they openly went out sprawling in daylight in the capital city of Cotonou.
Yet, the argument cannot be dismissed outright that the performance of Nigeria in rescuing the Benin Republic from the rebels is a demonstration of the country’s military capacity that can be deployed in the war against the various terror groups in different parts of the country. It is, in other words, a situation of “physician, heal thyself.’
By the role it played in thwarting the coup d’etat in the Benin Republic, Nigeria has definitely worsened the existing diplomatic bad blood with the members of the confederation of the states of the Sahel, AES. This is evident in the ongoing hostility being visited on Nigeria over the ordinarily, innocuous incident of the emergency landing of a Nigerian Air Force carrier plane in Burkina Faso.
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