The Nigerian Air Force has carried out airstrikes in neighbouring Benin Republic as part of a coordinated operation to counter an attempted coup, a presidential source told AFP on Sunday.
Air Force spokesman Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame confirmed that the operation was conducted in accordance with ECOWAS protocols and the mandate of the ECOWAS Standby Force.
However, details of the precise targets remain unclear.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Sunday praised the swift response of Nigerian troops, saying the intervention came at the request of the Beninese government as it moved to protect its 35-year-old democracy from mutinous soldiers who launched an assault at dawn.
Earlier, authorities in Benin announced they had successfully foiled an attempted coup.
A group of soldiers had briefly appeared on state television, declaring that they had removed President Patrice Talon from office.
Recent years have seen a wave of military takeovers across West Africa, including in Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, and most recently Guinea-Bissau.
Talon, 67, a former businessman known as the “cotton king of Cotonou,” is scheduled to leave office in April 2026 after two terms marked by economic progress but rising jihadist attacks in the country’s north.
Although the renegade soldiers calling themselves the Military Committee for Refoundation (CMR), claimed to have seized power, a source close to Talon told AFP that the president remained safe and insisted the coup attempt was the work of “a small group controlling only the television.”
“The regular army is regaining control. The city and the country are secure,” the source added, noting that the situation was stabilising and that security forces were “cleaning up” remaining pockets of resistance.
In Cotonou, AFP reporters said soldiers blocked access to the presidential palace as sporadic gunfire was heard. However, in other parts of the city, residents carried on with their daily activities.
Benin’s Interior Minister Alassane Seidou condemned the soldiers’ televised declaration as a mutiny aimed at destabilising the state, adding that the armed forces remained loyal and had quickly neutralised the threat.
The CMR soldiers, who appeared on television armed and wearing mixed-colour berets, named a lieutenant colonel as their leader.
They accused the government of failing to address deteriorating security in northern Benin, neglecting the families of fallen soldiers, and engaging in unfair promotions within the military.
ECOWAS strongly denounced the attempted takeover, describing it as unconstitutional and a direct affront to the will of the Beninese people.
Benin independent since 1960 has a long and troubled history of coups and attempted coups.
President Talon, who assumed office in 2016, is approaching the end of his second and final term.
With the main opposition excluded from the upcoming election, the ruling party is expected to face a more moderate opposition bloc.
While Talon is credited with advancing Benin’s economic growth, critics continue to accuse him of authoritarian tendencies.
