President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has commended the gallantry of Nigeria’s military on Sunday for responding swiftly to the request by the Government of Benin Republic to save its 35-year-old democracy from coup plotters who struck at dawn today.
This was contained in a statement by his media aide, Bayo Onanuga, on Sunday evening.
According to the statement, acting on two separate requests from the Government of Benin, President Tinubu first ordered Nigerian Air Force fighter jets to enter the country and take over the airspace to help dislodge the coup plotters from the National TV and a military camp where they had regrouped.
It said the Republic of Benin, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a Note Verbal, requested immediate Nigerian air support “in view of the urgency and seriousness of the situation and to safeguard the constitutional order, protect national institutions and ensure the security of the population.”
“In the second request, the authorities in Benin requested the deployment of Nigerian Air Force assets within Beninoise airspace for surveillance and rapid intervention operations under Benin-led coordination.
“The Benin government also requested Nigerian ground forces, ‘strictly for missions approved by the Beninese Command authority in support of the protection of constitutional institutions and the containment of armed Groups.
“Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede, said all the requests have been fulfilled, with Nigerian ground forces now in Benin.
“Ours is to comply with the order of the Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces, President Tinubu,” he said.
President Tinubu saluted the Nigerian armed forces for standing firm as a protector and defender of democracy.
“Today, the Nigerian armed forces stood gallantly as defenders and protectors of constitutional order in the Republic of Benin on the invitation of the government. Our armed forces acted 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 statement added.
Foiled Coup
Benin’s government had earlier on Sunday said that it had thwarted an attempted coup, after a group of soldiers announced on state television that they had ousted President Patrice Talon.
West Africa has experienced a number of coups in recent years, including in Benin’s northern neighbours Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as Mali, Guinea and, most recently, Guinea-Bissau.
Talon, a 67-year-old former businessman dubbed the “cotton king of Cotonou”, is due to hand over power in April next year after 10 years in office marked by solid economic growth but also a surge in jihadist violence.
Soldiers calling themselves the “Military Committee for Refoundation” (CMR), said on state television that they had met and decided that “Mr Patrice Talon is removed from office as president of the republic”.
But shortly after the announcement, a source close to Talon told AFP the president was safe and condemned the coup plotters as “a small group of people who only control the television”.