Following the requests from the government of Benin Republic, the Nigeria Armed Forces, on Sunday, dislodged coup plotters who had at a national television, announced that they had taken over government and sacked President Patrice Talon.
The role of the Nigerian Army in dislodging the coup plotters in Benin Republic was made known on Sunday in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga.
The presidential aide said his principal, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had commended the gallantry of Nigeria’s military for responding swiftly to the request by the Government of Benin Republic.
The response, the president was quoted as saying, saved Benin Republic’s 35-year-old democracy from coup plotters who struck at dawn.
He said 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.
He said the Republic of Benin, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a Note Verbal, also 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 was said to have 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.”
Onanuga said Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede, said all the requests had been fulfilled, with Nigerian ground forces already in Benin.
“Ours is to comply with the order of the Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces, President Tinubu,” he was quoted as saying.
Onanuga said constitutional order was upended in the Republic of Benin, Nigeria’s neighbour, when some soldiers led by Colonel Pascal Tigri announced a coup on Sunday morning.
The putschists seized the National TV and claimed they had toppled President Patrice Talon and suspended all democratic institutions.
It took some hours before the government’s loyal forces, assisted by Nigeria, took control and flushed out the coup plotters from the National TV.
In his remarks after the restoration of the democratic and constitutional order, 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 a defender and protector 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.”
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