President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has praised the Nigerian Armed Forces for their rapid and coordinated intervention in the Republic of Benin following Sunday’s attempted coup that briefly disrupted national broadcasting and threatened the country’s 35-year-old democracy.
Security sources confirmed that Nigeria deployed fighter aircraft and ground forces into Beninese territory after receiving two urgent requests from the Government of Benin, which warned that coup plotters had seized the national broadcaster and regrouped at a military camp in Cotonou.
According to a Note Verbal from Benin’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the country sought “immediate Nigerian air support to safeguard the constitutional order, protect national institutions, and ensure the security of the population.”
A second request asked for Nigerian Air Force assets to operate within Benin’s airspace for surveillance and rapid-intervention missions under Beninoise coordination, as well as Nigerian ground forces “strictly for missions approved by the Beninese Command authority.”
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Nigeria complied fully with both requests, according to the Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede, who confirmed that air and ground operations had been executed successfully.
“Ours is to comply with the order of the Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces, President Tinubu,” Oluyede said, adding that Nigerian forces were already operating inside Benin as loyalist troops moved to reclaim key state institutions.
Coup Attempt Led by Colonel Tigri Crumbles
The attempted military takeover was led by Colonel Pascal Tigri, who appeared on the state broadcaster early Sunday morning to announce the dissolution of democratic institutions and the removal of President Patrice Talon. The self-styled Military Committee for Refoundation claimed it had assumed full control of governance.
For several hours, uncertainty gripped Cotonou until loyalist forces, backed by Nigerian air and ground units, cleared the coup plotters from the national broadcaster and restored communication under government authority.
Security officials told AFP that 13 individuals have been arrested in connection with the coup attempt, including serving members of the Beninese armed forces and one former soldier believed to have maintained links within the military hierarchy.
Benin’s presidency dismissed the putschists as “a small group” with limited operational capability. “This is a small group of people who only controlled the television,” a presidency official said. “The regular army is regaining control. The city and the country are completely secure.”
Tinubu Commends Military, Cites ECOWAS Protocol
In a message after the restoration of constitutional order, President Tinubu lauded the Nigerian military for acting decisively and within regional legal frameworks.
“Today, the Nigerian Armed Forces stood gallantly as a defender and protector of constitutional order in the Republic of Benin on the invitation of the government,” Tinubu said. “Our Armed Forces acted within the ambit of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance. They have helped stabilise a neighbouring country and made us proud of their commitment to sustaining our democratic values and ideals since 1999. Nigeria stands firmly with the government and people of the Republic of Benin.”
The events in Benin have heightened regional concern over the growing wave of military takeovers in West Africa. Nigeria, dealing with its own security pressures, has repeatedly warned that instability among neighbouring states poses direct risks to the region’s collective security and economic stability.
By midday Sunday, Benin’s national broadcaster had resumed normal operations, and government officials announced that order had been restored across key institutions. Investigations are ongoing as authorities interrogate the detained soldiers and assess the full extent of the attempted takeover.
For now, the Talon administration insists that the situation is stable and under complete control.
