Benin military coup crushed but not yet uhuru for Tinubu-led French operation – INVESTIGATION

By OUR REPORTERS, Cotonou and Abuja

Fasehun listed the many evils of President Patrice Talon against the Beninoise and democracy wanting to still go for third term to become a life president, a desire Tinubu himself has been rumoured undebunked to nurse, thus sparking the urge by armed forces of his (Talon’s) country remove him from power. She wondered how African leaders don’t condemn evil leaders but are quick to raise their voices against the cries of the people in reaction to their being beaten hard.

The coup, Sunday December 7, 2025, in the Nigeria’s neighbourhood of Republic of Benin may have been crushed but feelers from the country and other Western countries indicated that it should not be a certificate for Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who led what has been described as French President Emmanuel Macron’s directed military operation using Nigerian troops to go to bed.

However, our source in Cotonou, who confirmed that there was actually a serious coup in the country on Sunday, has also said the new military powers have been effectively dislodged but not without deaths recorded with the coup leader, Colonel Pascal being on the run.

Speaking via internet to The DEFENDER in the early hours of Tuesday December 9, 2025, he said, “The military coup was not successful. Many of the plotters have been arrested but the leader – Pascal Tigri – is on the run. There is a manhunt for the remaining plotters and an unspecified number of casualties (death) within the military has been recorded.”

He, however, said the normal business activities have resumed since morning of Monday December 8.

The DEFENDER’s source confirmed that, “There was heavy presence of group troops and Air Force fight jets from Nigeria on Sunday.”

It will be recalled that some respondents from Tanzania, Namibia and Burkina Faso, reacting to report of the coup by this global online newspaper on Sunday, had described the coup (thwarted or not) as a “message sent” to unruly African leaders who put their heads under unfriendly colonialist West that do not love their continent for any good development.

President Patrice Talon has also confirmed the coup with an appreciation to Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu for helping save his job political leader of his country, according to Bayo News Network, a member of Pan-African Movement Forum based in The Gambia.

But Africa New Line 700 platform, in its report on Monday, said, “Colonel Pascal Tigri is issuing a warning to France. Contrary to French media reports, Colonel Tigri is neither on the run nor deceased. As previously stated, the Minister of Interior’s announcement of the foiled coup was made on a private television station, rather than the national, state-owned ORTB.

“Furthermore, President Macron’s call to Tinubu for military intervention is indicative of France’s failure to thwart the coup. The coup has, in fact, been consummated. Colonel Tigri is cautioning France against involvement and urging the masses to join the liberation of their country from imperialism,” said the report.

Criticisms from Nigeria and beyond have slammed Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s subjecting the sovereighty of the world’s largest black country he rules to the whims and caprices of President Emmanuel Macron of France thus appearing to have effectively turned the country to French colony.

Lauretta Onochie, an African Democratic Congress (ADC), in her reaction to the development, titled “TROUBLE DEY SLEEP…” said “Apparently, Nigeria is now a French colony under Pres. Emmanuel Macron, a president with less than 3% approval rate in his own France.”

She made herself clear as a non-supporter of military coup but was totally averse to the manner of Tinubu’s intervention deploying Nigerian military equipment to help dislodge junta in another (francophone) country and at a time Nigerian government has effectively shown incapacity to equally dislodge terrorists and other criminals from North and other parts of the country.

“I am totally against any coup d’etat. But France using Pres. Bola Tinubu to drag Nigeria into the crises in neighbouring Benin Republic, is nothing but “Trouble de sleep…”

“We have enough on our plate with Nigerians being killed everyday and Pres. Donald Trump helping Tinubu to divide Nigerians along religious line,” Lauretta Onochie said.

The Tinubu’s action was followed immediately by array of condemnations from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU) rejecting the coup, a development that Adeola Fasehun, a popular YouTube channel presenter, x-rayed critically what many have thus described as the hypocrisy of both the Nigerian president and his brothers in ECOWAS and AU.

Fasehun listed the many evils of President Patrice Talon against the Beninoise and democracy wanting to still go for third term to become a life president, a desire Tinubu himself has been rumoured undebunked to nurse, thus sparking the urge by armed forces of his (Talon’s) country remove him from power. She wondered how African leaders don’t condemn evil leaders but are quick to raise their voices against the cries of the people in reaction to their being beaten hard.