The Nigeria’s Senate has approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to deploy Nigerian troops to the Republic of Benin, following the butched coup in the West Africa country over the weekend.
The Senators voted in favour of the deployment, and effectively giving legislative backing for the deployment.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio described the decision as a step in the right direction, noting that instability in any neighboring state poses a threat to the entire region.
“An injury to one is an injury to all,” the lawmaker said. He underscored that it is Nigeria’s responsibility to support its Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) partner.
Tinubu had written to the Senate, seeking their approval for the deployment of troops to the Benin Republic as part of the regional intervention.
According to the President, the crisis demands “urgent external intervention” to help restore stability and prevent further breakdown of order.
Benin Republic’s attempted coup occurred on Sunday, when some military personnel announced the removal of President Patrice Talon.
The soldiers who called themselves the “Military Committee for Refoundation” (CMR) took to national television to announce that they had met and concluded that “Mr Patrice Talon is removed from office as president of the republic”.
However, the country’s military thwarted the effort and regained control.
“The regular army is regaining control. The city (Cotonou) and the country are completely secure,” sources close to Talon said. “It’s just a matter of time before everything returns to normal. The clean-up is progressing well.”
In the wake of the attempted coup, ECOWAS said it will deploy a standby force to the area.
“After consultation among members of the Mediation and Security Council at the level of Heads of State and Government, the Chair of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government has ordered the deployment of elements of the ECOWAS Standby Force to the Republic of Benin with immediate effect,” the regional bloc said.
“The Regional Force shall be made up of troops from the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Republic of Sierra Leone, the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, and the Republic of Ghana.
“The Force shall support the Government and the Republican Army of Benin to preserve constitutional order and the territorial integrity of the Republic of Benin”.
