200 Nigerian, Ivorian Troops Storm Benin for Mop-Up as Regional Allies Rally to Crush Putsch

By Emmanuel Kwada 

In a swift display of West African solidarity, approximately 200 troops from Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire have deployed to Benin for a high-stakes “sweep and clean-up” operation following a botched coup attempt that rattled the tiny nation over the weekend, Benin’s Foreign Affairs Minister Olushegun Adjadi Bakari disclosed Thursday.

The failed putsch, launched on Sunday, December 8, saw mutinous elements clash with loyalist forces in a bid to topple President Patrice Talon’s government. Benin quickly mobilized support from neighbors Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, and even France, underscoring the fragility of democracy in a region plagued by juntas.

By the time external aid arrived, however, the coup was already crumbling—repelled by Benin’s own military but the reinforcements were called in to neutralize lingering threats without sparking a bloodbath.

“There are currently around 200 soldiers present, who came to lend a hand at the end of the day to the Beninese defence and security forces as part of the sweep and clean-up operation,” Bakari told reporters at a press conference in Abuja, hosted alongside an ECOWAS ministerial briefing.

He emphasized that the intervention was precautionary: “We requested the support of our brothers and sisters, not because our army was not capable, but because the President of the Republic did not want significant human lives lost.”

An Ivorian security source confirmed that 50 troops from Abidjan formed part of the contingent, with Nigeria’s forces touching down in Benin on the day of the assault.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has pledged additional reinforcements from Ghana and Sierra Leone, though the bloc has not yet revealed the full troop tally.

Bakari lauded the rapid response as a testament to ECOWAS’s role in “defend[ing] democracy and the values of democracy in our regional space,” crediting offers of aid from Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, and Ghana.

Behind the scenes, Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar detailed how a blitz of diplomatic, military, and intelligence coordination between Abuja and Porto-Novo sealed the coup’s fate.

“The coordination to ensure that democracy remains untampered in Benin was successful, and it is an exemplar of what really should obtain whenever democracy is under threat in our region,” Tuggar declared at the briefing.

He revealed constant backchannel talks with Bakari from the crisis’s outset, crediting the “fast reaction and communication” among regional players for thwarting the unconstitutional power grab.

Tuggar also seized the moment to rally ECOWAS members on bolstering the bloc’s Standby Force: “First and foremost, we all have to pay up our dues. These recent events underscore the need for us to have a standby force that is well funded and effective.”

As the dust settles, questions swirl around the coup’s mastermind. Reuters reported Wednesday that Pascal Tigri, the alleged ringleader, and his accomplices are holed up in Togo’s capital, Lomé—specifically in the Lome 2 neighborhood near President Faure Gnassingbé’s residence.

A memo from Benin’s national intelligence service to its Togolese counterpart, dated the same day, urged swift action: “Our department would like to request your support in apprehending and then handing over these fugitive soldiers to the Beninese authorities.”

Bakari demurred when pressed on the claim, stating he “couldn’t confirm the report.” Discussions continue on whether the regional forces will linger for an extended deployment, but the minister assured that any decision would be “taken in close collaboration with Benin’s defence and security forces, who have demonstrated their bravery.”

The episode marks yet another close call for Talon, whose administration has faced mounting unrest amid economic woes and political crackdowns.

With ECOWAS troops now embedded in the operation, eyes turn to Togo for potential extraditions—and to the subregion for signs of whether this collaborative triumph can stem the tide of military adventurism sweeping Sahel nations like Niger and Burkina Faso.