A foiled coup plot in Benin reveals growing opposition to Talon’s iron-clad political hold

President Patrice Talon

A recent announcement by prosecutors in Benin Republic that they foiled a coup attempt has sparked public concerns and debates over political developments in the country.

In a statement issued by Elonm Metonou, special prosecutor at Benin’s court for financial crimes and terrorism, it was alleged that Oswald Homeky, a former sports minister, was caught Tuesday night handing over six bags of cash, reported to contain 1.5 billion West African CFA francs (about $2.5 million), to Djimon Tevoedjre, commander of the republican guard and head of President Patrice Talon’s security.

In a carefully coordinated plot, the suspects are said to have opened a bank account in Côte d’Ivoire under the commander’s name on August 6. The money was transported in Homeky’s Toyota Prado, which bore fake license plates.

The statement also alleges that Olivier Boko, a businessman and Talon’s long-time friend, was involved in the plot, adding a more sinister twist to the whole operation.

Boko was arrested in Cotonou, Benin’s economic capital and largest city. The businessman had recently started making known his plans to run for the presidency in 2026 when Talon’s second term in office ends.

According to investigators, Homeky and Boko paid off the military commander to not resist the planned coup.

Talon has come under heavy criticism recently for what many believe is his intention to run for another term of five years in the 2026 elections. If he does announce his candidacy, this would be his third term bid as he is completing a second term he had promised he would not seek when he campaigned in 2016.

Putting these claims to rest, Talon has said he will not be seeking a third term in 2026. After a meeting with him, the president of the opposition parliamentary group, Democrats Party (Parti Les Democrat PD), Nourénou Atchadé, held a press conference disclosing that Talon reaffirmed his commitment not to change the fundamental law to run for a third term.

Mr. Atchadé recounted that the President declared “that he has never asked and will never ask for a revision of the Constitution to remain in power forever because it was he who had it written into the text that no one in his lifetime will be president for more than two terms,” adding that Talon insisted that he “intends to leave power in 2026.”

There are, however, many sceptics who say Talon’s political trajectory so far contradicts this claim. For some time, there have been surreptitious moves to revise the constitution. In December 2020, the African Court of Human Rights handed down a ruling against the Beninese state ordering the annulment of an earlier constitutional revision because enough public consultations were not done, but it has yet to be implemented.

The Constitutional Court of Benin had also declared itself incompetent to judge an appeal against the Sponsorship system, which requires each candidate for elections to be formally sponsored by 16 mayors or members of parliament, leaving the issue unresolved.

Benin’s laws grant the president powers to appoint judges and magistrates. Moreover, court officials get instructions from him and the minister of justice. The national media regulator is also placed under the president’s authority.

Many still believe that the President is consulting extensively to secure widespread support for his ambition, leveraging on his performance in revamping the country’s economy and pushing through major social reforms and infrastructural renewal.

The public verdict does credit him with “a passing grade” for transforming the country since he first came to office in 2016. Known as the “king of cotton,” Talon was a wealthy businessman who built his empire in the cotton-ginning industry before he threw his hat in the presidential ring.

He and his country are rarely in African or world news headlines, but the country leads Africa in some peculiar things. For example, it is the 8th most tax-transparent country globally, outperforming countries like the United States of America (USA), and the only African country on the list.

Talon’s government introduced universal health insurance, and Benin’s economy has seen strong growth, expected to reach 7.2% in 2024.

However, many say, there is another side to the Talon success story. Even as he announced that he had abandoned his push for constitutional reforms in 2017, he and his loyalists appear to have employed a long and intricate list of legal gambits to normalise political exclusion.

He has been accused by his critics of having used the country’s legal system, with the creation of a special court, to keep his main opponents away from politics since 2019.

Under Talon, many say it has become extremely difficult for politicians to run an opposition party, accusing his administration of locking up opponents and forcing them into exile.

Amnesty International sees things in a similar light. The international human rights organisation alleged cases of arbitrary arrests, torture, and other ill-­treatment in Benin in 2022. Freedom of expression and peaceful assembly was also restricted.

After the 2023 parliamentary elections, the opposition’s representation in the country’s legislature dropped significantly. However, the main opposition Le Democrats, led by former president, Boni Yayi, remains too weak to make a real difference, with only 28 of 109 seats.

The two parties that support Talon, by contrast, command a two-thirds majority – enough to amend the constitution, which many say Talon may surreptitiously introduce again, although there have been no direct moves to do this yet.

Louis Vlavonou, a member of the Progressive Union party (Union Progressiste UP) who has been a Member of Parliament since 2003 and the speaker since 2019, is also the leader of parliament.

In the 2019 Beninese parliamentary election, the party came first, winning 47 of 83 seats in the National Assembly. In 2023, the party, in alliance with the Republican Bloc, together won 81 out of 109 seats in parliament, leaving Yayi’s opposition PD with 28 seats.

Both the Progressive Union and the Republican Bloc are allied with President Talon, who ran in the elections as an independent candidate, and were the only parties in parliament until 2023 when some opposition parties were allowed to contest.

The current Vice President of Benin, Mariam Chabi Talata, is a member of the Progressive Union, strengthening the ties between the party and the president.

Benin’s Parliament is allegedly controlled by the president’s men. All the important committees, including those in charge of financial, legal, and defence matters, are controlled by Talon allies.

Under Talon, critics say, it has become extremely difficult for politicians to run an opposition party. The Democrats came close to being excluded once more after the leader of the country’s Revenue and Tax Service accused them of shady operations. Only a last-minute decision by the Constitutional Court ensured that the Democrats could field candidates in the last elections.

The election laws under Talon appear to have been designed for the benefit of well-established and financially endowed parties. Some political observers say that Talon and the men he appointed have completely stifled the opposition.

In spite of the Constitutional Court’s ruling, allowing several opposition parties to contest the last elections, and suggesting a level of judicial independence, the judiciary is believed to be under tight government control.

According to the New York Center for Policy Affairs Global Magnitsky investigative report, control of the judiciary has been a powerful tool in Talon’s arsenal for suppressing dissent.

Proof of Talon’s hold on the judiciary is in his ties to the former Minister of Justice and former head of the Constitutional Court, Joseph Fifamin Djogbénou. Formerly Talon’s lawyer. When Djogbénou served as Minister of Justice, he was responsible for the formation of CRIET (Cour de Repression des Infractions Economiques et du Terrorism).

Djogbenou resigned his position as president of the constitutional court of Benin in an unprecedented move and shortly thereafter was appointed president of the UP.

He had gone through a similar process when he was removed from his post of Justice Minister and appointed President of the Constitutional Court where he master-minded the exclusion of the opposition from elections.

It is believed that Djogbenou was being prepared to become the next president of the national assembly after the January 2023 legislative election where he was expected to dismantle the remaining legislations that could prevent Patrice Talon from running for a third term.

While this did not happen, there are opinions that Djogbenou had already shown his hand in preparing the judicial process to accommodate such moves.

Evidence shows that the special court was used primarily to prosecute political opponents of Talon and suppress dissenting voices. This mechanism has been used for the arbitrary arrest of protestors and opposition figures.

Evidence of this high-handedness, many say, is the case of the first female presidential candidate selected to run as the candidate of the Democrats party, Reckya Madougou, who was arrested and accused of financing terrorism and “planning to assassinate several political figures”, according to the government.

She was arrested in Porto-Novo in the presence of Joël Aivo, another opposition candidate, who escaped at the time of the arrest.

Madougou’s candidacy for the presidential election on April 11, 2021, was rejected by the electoral commission for failing to garner signatures of support from 16 mayors or Members of Parliament (MPs), as required by the controversial Sponsorship system.

Madougou, 46, has continued to protest her arrest through a series of letters, insisting that her incarceration is purely for political reasons.

In Benin’s political circles, the question is no longer whether Talon will contest the elections but when he intends to boldly drive constitutional reforms to grant him such a right. Whether he intends to respect the constitutional term limit has been a major topic for debate in the country.

In these circumstances, commentators say, it will be hard for opposition forces to present a strong front against a Talon candidacy before May 2026, when his second and last term in office is set to end.