The Tinubu administration, having helped to rescue Talon, has a duty to ensure he safely exits the Benin presidency, without further endangering democracy. Secondly, it has the duty to ensure political opposition in Nigeria is not stifled like Talon is doing in Benin Republic. Thirdly, it has the duty to protect the continent from despots. It needs to explain to Nigerians why our troops were so speedily deployed to Benin while the coup plotters in Guinea-Bissau are allowed to consolidate.
Early morning on Sunday, 7 December, while many Beninois slept, hoping to go to church, mosque and traditional places of worship at dawn, some members of their armed forces fanned out. Led by Lieutenant Colonel Paschal Tigri, they planned to bring the people under their claws.
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At 05:00 a.m. they attacked the Presidential Palace and then retreated to the national broadcaster, the SRTB, where they announced the removal of Patrice Talon, president of the French vassal state. The accusations of the rebels against Talon include the imposition of harsh economic measures on the people, such as increased taxes and cuts in healthcare. Others comprise the clamping down on the opposition and the deteriorating security situation.
The issue is not the truth in these allegations, which are verifiable, but whether the truth justifies a coup by men from the barracks that may not be different from the dictatorial Talon. However, what is clear to me is that if democracy implies the people exercising their free will to decide, through the ballot box, the leadership of their country, then Benin is not a democracy. Therefore, countries like Nigeria taking part in direct combat with the Beninois rebels were not doing so to defend democracy, as there is no democracy in that country to defend. Therefore, nations like Nigeria sending combatants to fight on the side of Talon were merely wasting their resources and putting their troops needlessly in harm’s way.
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While as a Nigerian, I was reassured that the Nigerian military has the capacity to act swiftly and decisively in an emergency situation, I would have loved these to be displayed within our borders where bandits and terrorists hold sway over swathes of our territory, rather than exhibit it in Benin Republic to keep a halfpenny dictator in power.
Talon’s regime is so intolerant of opposition that in the two-month period of March and April 2020, he detained over 100 opposition politicians and activists.
He had won re-election mainly by banning opposition candidates. As a follow up, he had sent some to jail. One of them, Recya Madougou, a former Justice minister, was picked up in 2021, a few weeks before the general elections, accused of trying to disrupt the elections and “destabilise” the country. A special court on terrorism and economic crimes called CRIET, which Talon had established, sentenced her to 20 years imprisonment for “complicity in terrorist acts”.
The terror court had also sent another opposition presidential candidate, Professor Joel Aivo, who had been held for eight months, to ten years imprisonment for treason. Aivo, before his sentence, told the judge: “It is not for criminal justice to arbitrate on political differences. I have decided to give myself to this country. You are also children of this country. Do as you will with me.”
As for the scheduled 12 April, 2026 presidential election, with Talon on rampage, opposition leaders either disqualified, in prison or on the run, the stage is set for the coronation of his hand-picked successor, the minister of state for Finance and Cooperation, 49-year-old Romuald Wadagni.
Some opposition figures had fled the country to escape the talons of Talon. Even a judge of the CRIET special court had also fled before the re-election, claiming the court was political.
In 2024, Talon put two of his friends, Oliver Boko, a businessman, and Oswald Homesky, a former sports minister, on trial for an alleged plot to overthrow the government. They were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment each, jointly fined $95 million and, each also fined $6.8 million.
In August 2024, Steve Amoussou, an online critic of Talon, was arrested for allegedly inciting rebellion. Talon is likely to take advantage of this coup attempt to jail or eliminate more opposition figures.
As for the scheduled 12 April, 2026 presidential election, with Talon on rampage, opposition leaders either disqualified, in prison or on the run, the stage is set for the coronation of his hand-picked successor, the minister of state for Finance and Cooperation, 49-year-old Romuald Wadagni.
Amongst those who have sent troops to ‘defend democracy’ in Benin is the rogue 83-year-old President Alasssane Dramane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire. He has been in office since 2010. So, he is in his fourth term in office, when the constitutional limit is two terms. But Ouattara does not seem to be in a hurry to leave office soon, as he is the main point man of France, a country that began its colonialisation and exploitation of Africa with its invasion of Algeria in 1830. This week, 195 years later, France is still in charge of West Africa, coordinating the armed forces of the region led by Nigeria in their intervention in Benin Republic.
In the wake of the attempted coup, French President Emmanuel Macron boasted that he called Presidents Talon, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria and Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone to coordinate a joint response. Bio, a veteran coup plotter who played central roles in the 1992 and 1999 coups in his country, which made him deputy head of state and then head of state, is the current chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The new France-Nigeria-ECOWAS military alliance in the region is likely to increase the antagonism with the anti-French Alliance of Sahel States (AES). The AES, made up of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, has always accused Nigeria and countries like Cote d’Ivoire of being mere stooges of France and imperialism.
There is also Ghana, whose leadership has transformed the legendary Black Star of Africa into a United States military base, while also vigorously undermining Africa by carrying out the dictates of foreign powers, like expelling our African brothers and sisters from Western Sahara.
France revealed that it gave logistical support to the African troops, provided surveillance and shared intelligence with Nigeria, which led the air and ground intervention in Benin Republic.
France also sent in its special forces from Cote d’Ivoire to support the Nigerian and ECOWAS intervention forces. The Head of the Benin Republican Guard, Dieudonne Djimon Tevoedre, however, claimed the interventionist French forces were mainly “used for mopping up operations.”
The new France-Nigeria-ECOWAS military alliance in the region is likely to increase the antagonism with the anti-French Alliance of Sahel States (AES). The AES, made up of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, has always accused Nigeria and countries like Cote d’Ivoire of being mere stooges of France and imperialism.
The Tinubu administration, having helped to rescue Talon, has a duty to ensure he safely exits the Benin presidency, without further endangering democracy. Secondly, it has the duty to ensure political opposition in Nigeria is not stifled like Talon is doing in Benin Republic. Thirdly, it has the duty to protect the continent from despots. It needs to explain to Nigerians why our troops were so speedily deployed to Benin while the coup plotters in Guinea-Bissau are allowed to consolidate. I would have preferred we pressurise the plotters in Bissau to allow the electoral commission formally announce the election results and swear in the new president, than expend resources shoring up Talon.
In all these, how do we wake up the African Union (AU)? I admit this will be an Herculean task because one of the most difficult things is to try to wake up a person who is not sleeping.
Owei Lakemfa, a former secretary general of African workers, is a human rights activist, journalist and author.
