President Tinubu Commends Nigerian Military for Foiling Benin Republic Coup
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has commended the Nigerian Armed Forces for their swift and decisive intervention in the Benin Republic, which successfully thwarted a military coup attempt on Sunday.
The President confirmed that the intervention was carried out at the explicit request of the Beninese government to protect its 35-year-old democracy.
Nigerian Forces Deployed After Dual Request
According to a press release by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President (Information and Strategy), Nigeria acted on two separate, urgent requests from Benin’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Benin requested immediate Nigerian Air Force (NAF) fighter jets to enter its airspace to help dislodge the coup plotters from the National TV station and a military camp where they had regrouped.
The request was made “to safeguard the constitutional order, protect national institutions and ensure the security of the population.”
Benin also requested the deployment of NAF assets for surveillance and rapid intervention, along with Nigerian ground forces, specifying that the ground missions would be “strictly for missions approved by the Beninese Command authority.”
Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede, confirmed that all requests were fulfilled, and Nigerian ground forces are now deployed in Benin.
The coup, which briefly upended constitutional order, was led by Colonel Pascal Tigri and a group of soldiers who seized the National TV at dawn to announce the toppling of President Patrice Talon and the suspension of all democratic institutions.
President Tinubu confirmed that loyalist forces, supported by the Nigerian intervention, quickly regained control of strategic points and flushed out the coup plotters.
Saluting the armed forces, President Tinubu stated that the operation was conducted “within the ambit of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance.”
“They have helped stabilise a neighbouring country and have 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 President said.
