Tinubu Benin coup response hailed for regional leadership but ADC questions domestic security delays and constitutional compliance
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu requires at least 14 days to seek Senate approval for the deployment of troops abroad for combat operations, a Senate source confirmed, clarifying reports that the President must obtain consent 24 hours before or after deployment.
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The clarification comes as Nigeria’s swift intervention helped foil an attempted coup in the Republic of Benin, resulting in the release of two high-ranking Beninese army officers, Chief of Army Staff Abou Issa and Army Chief Colonel Faizou Gomina, who had been taken hostage during the mutiny.
The Presidency described Nigeria’s rapid response as evidence of Tinubu’s leadership in promoting peace and constitutional order across West Africa.
Special Assistant to the President on Social Media, Dada Olusegun, highlighted the decisive action as reinforcing Nigeria’s role as a stabilising force in the sub-region, working alongside ECOWAS to safeguard democratic institutions.
However, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) criticised the Federal Government, arguing that the speed of the Benin intervention exposes the slow response to domestic insecurity.
In a statement signed by Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, the party stressed that rapid foreign action contrasts sharply with persistent delays in protecting Nigerian citizens from internal threats.
The attempted coup in Cotonou on 7 December, led by soldiers under the “Military Committee for Refoundation” and headed by Lt. Col. Pascal Tigri, briefly seized the state television station and announced the overthrow of President Patrice Talon.
Loyalist forces, aided by fighter jets and troops deployed from Nigeria, quickly regained control. President Talon reported that the remaining pockets of resistance were cleared, with about a dozen soldiers arrested.
Section 5(5) of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution empowers the President, in consultation with the National Defence Council, to deploy armed forces abroad for limited combat duty in imminent national security threats, provided the Senate is consulted within 14 days of engagement. The Senate has seven days to approve or deny such deployments.
The ADC also questioned inconsistencies in Nigeria’s foreign interventions, recalling past hesitations during crises in Guinea-Bissau, and urged the Federal Government to prioritise the security of Nigerian communities.
Meanwhile, the Beninese government confirmed that plotters had been quickly dislodged by loyalist forces. ECOWAS reported that troops from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone were deployed to support Benin in preserving constitutional order.
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President Tinubu’s decisive action underscores Nigeria’s ongoing role in regional stability while highlighting tensions between rapid international interventions and domestic security management.
