BENIN OPERATION: Tinubu has now made Nigeria a French colony – ADC Chieftain, others

*Says insecurity killing Nigerians and US President Trump helping Tinubu divide his people along religious line yet Benin operation is more important 

*Gambia-Bayo News Network reports Talon thanks Tinubu for saving his presidency

By KEMI KASUMU and OUR REPORTERS

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

What has now been confirmed as Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu subjecting the sovereignty of Nigeria to the directives of France, a European country and one of Western powers being sent out of West Africa as seen in Republics of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, to deploy Nigeria’s troops to fight and dislodge the new military powers in Republic of Benin, has been condemned by concerned Nigerians.

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It will be recalled that President Tinubu, on Sunday December 7, 2025 following the announcement of military takeover over of government in the Nigeria’s neighborhood, had taken to his verifiable X handle to explain his role even as French President Emmanuel Macron also did.

“Earlier today, on my orders, the Nigerian armed forces stood gallantly as a defender and protector of constitutional order in the Republic of Benin on the invitation of the government.

“Our armed forces acted within the ambit of the ECOWAS @ecowas_cedeao Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance. They have helped stabilise a neighbouring country and have made us proud of their commitment to sustaining our democratic values and ideals since 1999.

“Nigeria stands firmly with the government and people of the Republic of Benin. – PBAT.”

Tinubu’s action was followed immediately by array of condemnations from the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) and Africa Union (AU) rejecting 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 in debunked to nurse, thus sparking the urge by armed forces of his (Talon’s) country to 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.

Specifically in her reaction to the development,  titled “TROUBLE DEY SLEEP….”, Nigeria’s opposition coalition’s African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain, Lauretta Onochie, posted a video with an appeal that “Please, Don’t Watch, If You’re Not Strong Enough.”

And she continued with her bombardment of the power misapplication by African Giant that has persistently failed to reflect in daily life of its people, saying, “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’état. But France using Pres. Bola Ahmed Tinubu to drag Nigeria into the crises in neighbouring Benin Republic, is nothing but “Trouble dey sleep….”

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

In the meantime, Republic of Benin President Patrice Talon has thanked Nigerian President Bola Tinubu for saving his presidency from the military powers.

This was reported by Bayo News Network, a Gambia-based news platform and member of Pan-African Movement Forum.

It said:

BENINIOUS PRESIDENT PATRICE TALON HAS THANKED THE NIGERIAN PRESIDENT BOLA TINUBU FOR ORDERING NIGERIAN AIR FORCE TO STOP A COUP HAS WAS SUCCESSFUL FOR SIX HOURS UNDER THE COMMAND OF LT.COL.PASCAL TIGRI BEFORE BEEN COUNTERED BY NIGERIAN FORCES

President TINUBU has confirmed deploying fighter jets and ground troops to neighbouring Benin to help foil a coup attempt by a group of Beninese soldiers.

In a statement on Sunday, Tinubu’s office said Nigeria’s military intervened in Benin after President Patrice Talon’s government issued two requests for help, including for “immediate Nigerian air support”.

Tinubu first ordered Nigerian fighter jets to enter Benin and “take over the airspace to help dislodge the coup plotters from the National TV and a military camp where they had regrouped”, the statement said.

Nigeria’s military sent in ground troops later, after Benin’s government asked for their support in “the protection of constitutional institutions and the containment of armed groups”, it said.

Tinubu praised his troops and said they had helped “stabilise a neighbouring country”.

The Nigerian statement came shortly after Talon, the president of Benin, appeared on national television and said his security forces had successfully blocked the attempt to overthrow his government.

On Sunday, The DEFENDER had reported reactions from Tanzania, Namibia and Burkina Faso where respondents described the Benin coup, thwarted or not, as a “message sent to unruly politicians dragging the fortunes of African in the mud” putting their own heads under Western powers that live them for nothing good for Africa.