Leader of failed Benin coup reportedly hiding in Togo

Soldiers announce coup d'état in the Republic of Benin. Photo: BTV

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A senior Beninese government official has told the BBC that Lt Col Pascal Tigri, identified as the leader of Sunday’s failed coup attempt in Benin, is now in hiding in neighbouring Togo.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government intends to seek his extradition, though authorities in Lomé have not yet commented publicly.

According to the official, as reported by BBC on Wednesday, Tigri is believed to be in the Togolese capital, Lomé, in the same area where President Faure Gnassingbé lives.

The official added, “We don’t know how to explain this, but we will make an official extradition request and see how the Togolese authorities will react.”

There has been no independent confirmation of Tigri’s whereabouts.

The attempted coup unfolded early Sunday when a group of soldiers appeared on state television claiming to have seized power.

Gunfire was later heard near the presidential residence in Cotonou.

The mutiny was foiled after Nigeria deployed fighter jets at the request of President Patrice Talon.

The aircraft helped dislodge the rebels from a military base and from the state broadcaster’s headquarters.

Togo, a member of the West African regional bloc Ecowas, has joined other regional governments in condemning the uprising.

Ecowas has since sent troops from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and the Ivory Coast to secure strategic sites in Benin, signalling a harder line against military takeovers following a wave of coups across West Africa.

French special forces also assisted loyalist troops, according to Dieudonne Djimon Tevoedjre, head of Benin’s republican guard.

He told AFP that Benin’s forces were “truly valiant and faced the enemy all day” and said French units flown in from Abidjan were used “for mopping up operations after the Beninese army had done the job.”

However, government spokesman Wilfried Léandre Houngbédji told the BBC he could not confirm France’s operational involvement, saying that “as far as he knew,” French assistance was primarily in intelligence.

Houngbédji said the mutiny was carried out by a small group within the recently created National Guard.

He said President Talon had asked Ecowas to launch targeted airstrikes after intelligence indicated the rebels planned to attack Cotonou’s main airport.

In a statement broadcast during the attempted takeover, the rebel soldiers accused Talon of mismanaging the country, condemning what they described as the “continuing deterioration of the security situation in northern Benin.”

They claimed the government had shown “ignorance and neglect of the situation of our brothers in arms who have fallen at the front and, above all, that of their families, abandoned to their sad fate by Mr Patrice Talon’s policies.”

They also criticised cuts to health services, increases in taxes, and restrictions on political activity.

Benin, long considered one of West Africa’s more stable democracies, has faced growing security threats along its northern border, where jihadist groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaeda have pushed south from the Sahel.

The country remains one of the world’s poorest, despite being a major cotton producer.

President Talon, a businessman dubbed the “king of cotton,” is set to leave office next year at the end of his second term.

He has endorsed Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni as his preferred successor.

While praised for economic development, Talon’s government has drawn criticism for limiting political freedoms, including the electoral commission’s decision in October to bar the main opposition candidate from the 2026 vote.

The attempted coup occurred just over a week after the overthrow of Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embaló, an event that some regional figures have questioned as potentially staged.

The region has also seen recent coups in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Niger, where juntas have strengthened ties with Russia and distanced themselves from Ecowas.

According to BBC Monitoring, several pro-Russian social media accounts celebrated news of the attempted takeover in Benin, reflecting broader geopolitical competition that has intensified across the Sahel.

The PUNCH journalist, Gift, has over three years of experience covering elections, security and foreign affairs.

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