Nigeria flexes muscles with Benin coup intervention

Within hours of soldiers in Benin announcing they had taken power on December 7, Nigeria scrambled jets and sent ground troops to help nip the uprising in the bud.

It was the first military intervention to stop a coup carried out under the auspices of the 1999 Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol. This protocol provides for an intervention force to protect democracy and good governance in a member state. Troops from other member states from the regional bloc have since joined the Nigerian forces to provide protection for Benin President Patrice Talon's government.

"Nigeria didn't just go there, Nigeria was invited," said Bayo Onanuga, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu's spokesman.

Onanuga said that Nigeria responded to two diplomatic requests from Benin President Patrice Talon: the first sought aerial support for loyalist troops, followed by a second request for ground troops.

It is a version corroborated by Benin foreign minister Olushegun Adjadi Bakari (pictured above left) at a joint press briefing with his Nigerian counterpart Yusuf Tuggar (above right) at the ECOWAS secretariat in Abuja. The mutineers, led by Lt. Col. Pascal Tigri, had set up in a military barracks in an area with a heavy civilian population that called for "a surgical" strike to "destroy the armoured vehicles they have in this military barracks and ensure they do not get out," he said.

President Tinubu was required to obtain lawmakers' approval prior to any foreign troop deployments. That approval was eventually given after the intervention on December 9 by a ruling party-dominated legislature despite some consternation from opposition lawmakers.

"Our prompt response made sure that the coup failed, and this is what the armed forces should always do," Nigeria's new defence minister General Chris Musa, told reporters in Abuja on December 11.

"We must be ready to respond to any threat whether against Nigeria or any of our regional allies."

Keeping Benin out of the coup belt

A successful putsch would have drawn Benin into West Africa's so-called "coup belt". Countries in the region that have seen military overthrows in recent years include Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, leading to tensions with former colonial power France.

The coup attempt also reflects the mounting political costs of the jihadist insurgencies raging across West Africa's Sahel. The insecurity has provided the pretext for governments to be toppled in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Jihadist insurgents have in recent years become increasingly active in northern Benin. The Beninise mutineers had claimed that military sacrifices in battling the insurgents had not been sufficiently recognised by Talon's government.

Talon, who made a fortune selling cotton, Benin's main export, came to power after winning elections in 2016. Under his rule Benin has witnessed significant infrastructure development and economic growth, reaching 7.5% in 2024. Though he came to power campaigning to end corruption and supporting a single five-year term for the president, he ran for re-election in 2021.

Ahead of the vote, Talon introduced new electoral rules that created barriers to opposition participation, allowing the ruling party and its supporters to take most of the seats in parliament. While opposition parties boycotted the electoral process, he seized the opportunity to consolidate his power.

"The opposition is so completely emasculated that what we have here is no longer democracy," said a school teacher in Cotonou, Benin's biggest city. "The only viable opposition now seems to be in the army."

Burkina Faso incident

While Nigeria insisted the Benin operation went smoothly, the landing of a Nigerian military plane in Benin's neighbour Burkina Faso - whose government left ECOWAS earlier this year - sparked a brief diplomatic incident.

The aircraft touched down in the second city of Bobo Dioulaso on Monday in what the Nigerian Air Force said was a "precautionary landing" after a technical concern.

Nigeria said the aircraft was on its way to Portugal for a ferry mission, but Burkina Faso called the landing "unauthorised", and the breakaway Association of Sahel States, of which it is now a member, called it an "unfriendly act".

Two days after the landing, Burkina Faso said the two crew members and nine passengers had been released and given permission to return to Nigeria.