NIGERIA deployed both air and ground troops to neighbouring Benin Republic on Sunday after President Patrice Talon’s government urgently requested military support to suppress an attempted coup, the Nigerian presidency and senior defence officials confirmed.
News Point Nigeria reports that the intervention followed a dramatic early-morning broadcast on Benin’s state television, where a group of mutinous soldiers calling themselves the Military Committee for Refoundation (CMR) announced the dissolution of government, suspension of the constitution, and closure of the country’s borders.
They further proclaimed that President Talon had been removed from office and declared Lieutenant-Colonel Tigri Pascal as head of a proposed transition council.
The coup plotters reportedly seized the national broadcaster but failed to gain access to President Talon’s residence, which was heavily fortified by loyal security forces.
Shortly after their television declaration, Interior Minister Alassane Seidou announced that the coup had been neutralised and that “state institutions remain intact”.
A source close to the President Talon told journalists that Talon was ‘safe’ and dismissed the putschists as ‘a small group of people who only control the television’.
According to a presidency official who spoke with News Point Nigeria, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) launched precision air operations inside Benin early Sunday based on two formal requests from Talon’s administration.
Air Force spokesperson, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, confirmed the operations, explaining that they were carried out “in line with ECOWAS protocols and the ECOWAS Standby Force mandate”.
While the exact targets of the strikes remain undisclosed, the presidency said the objectives were to dislodge coup elements from strategic positions—particularly the national broadcaster and a military facility where the mutineers regrouped.
Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga confirmed that Benin submitted two urgent diplomatic requests through a Note Verbale, seeking: immediate Nigerian air support to secure airspace and suppress coup units.
President Bola Tinubu, who also chairs ECOWAS, approved both requests.
“Nigeria’s armed forces stood gallantly as defenders of constitutional order,” Tinubu said, praising the military for swiftly supporting Benin’s 35-year-old democracy.
Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede, confirmed that Nigerian troops were already on Beninese soil conducting joint security operations.
“All requests from the Government of Benin have been fulfilled,” he said. “Ours is to comply with the Commander-in-Chief’s directives.”
The attempted overthrow heightens concerns in a region that has witnessed a wave of military takeovers in recent years—including Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.
President Talon, 67, who has led Benin since 2016, is expected to leave office in April 2026 after a decade marked by significant economic growth but rising insurgents activity in northern regions bordering Niger and Burkina Faso.
Tinubu said Nigeria’s intervention was both a defence of democracy and a reaffirmation of ECOWAS’s zero-tolerance stance on unconstitutional changes of government.
“Nigeria stands firmly with the government and people of the Republic of Benin,” he said.
Benin’s government has since restored full control of state institutions, though security sources warn that continued vigilance is necessary to prevent further instability.