President Ahmed Tinubu and General Olufemi Oluyede
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has declared a state of emergency in the region.
The declaration is occasioned by the recent waves of coups and attempted in the membership countries.
The announcement was made on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, by ECOWAS Commission President, Omar Touray, during the 55th session of the Mediation and Security Council, held at the ministerial level in Abuja.
According to him, the recent events inform the “urgent need to reflect on the future of our democracy and to strengthen the security of our community.”
During a symposium to commemorate the birthday of Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas in Accra last Saturday, Nigerian firebrand lawyer Femi Falana said coups are becoming commonplace in the sub-region. He pointed at the coup in Guinea Bissau, a country which he said has become coup-prone, adding that Nigeria escaped the trend recently.
A press release from Abuja indicates that the unsuccessful coup in Benin was as a result of a Nigerian intervention.
President Ahmed Tinubu 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 on that fateful day.
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.
The Republic of Benin, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a Note Verbale, 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, according to Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President, Information and Strategy, 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 Beninoise 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.
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.