France helped the authorities in Benin thwart a coup attempt at the weekend, an aide to President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday, revealing a French role in a regional effort that foiled the latest bid to stage a putsch in West Africa.

Macron led a “coordination effort” by speaking with key regional leaders, the aide, asking not to be named, told reporters, two days after Sunday’s failed coup bid.

France — at the request of the Beninese authorities — provided assistance “in terms of surveillance, observation and logistical support” to the Benin armed forces, the aide added.

Further details on the nature of the assistance were not immediately available.

A group of soldiers on Sunday took over Benin’s national television station and announced that President Patrice Talon had been deposed.

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But loyalist army forces ultimately defeated the attempted putsch with the help of neighbouring Nigeria, which carried out military strikes on Cotonou and deployed troops.

West Africa has endured a sequence of coups in recent years that have severely eroded French influence and presence in what were French colonies until independence.

Mali saw coups in 2020 and 2021, followed by Burkina Faso in 2022 and then Niger in 2023. French forces that had been deployed in these countries for an anti-jihadist operation were consequently forced to withdraw.

A successful putsch in Benin, also a former French colony, would have been seen as a new blow to the standing of Paris and Macron in the region.
Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, was meanwhile rocked by a coup in November after elections which led to military authorities taking over.
– ‘Caused serious concern’ –

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On Sunday, Macron spoke with Talon as well as the leaders of top regional power Nigeria and Sierra Leone, which holds the presidency of West African regional bloc ECOWAS, the Elysee aide said.

The situation in Benin “caused serious concern for the president (Macron), who unequivocally condemned this attempt at destabilisation, which fortunately failed”, said the aide.

ECOWAS has said troops from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Sierra Leone were being deployed to Benin to help the government “preserve constitutional order”.
“Our community is in a state of emergency,” Omar Alieu Touray, president of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said on Tuesday, highlighting the jihadist threat in the region as well as coups.

The bloc had threatened intervention during Niger’s 2023 coup that deposed president Mohamed Bazoum — an ally of Macron — but ultimately did not act.
France also did not carry out any intervention against the Niger coup.
“France has offered its full political support to ECOWAS, which made a very significant effort this weekend,” said the aide.

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At least a dozen plotters had been arrested and all hostages, including high-ranking officers, had been released by Monday, according to loyalist military sources.

Talon made his own television appearance late Sunday, assuring the country that the situation was “completely under control”.

Talon, 67, is due to hand over the reins of power in April after the maximum-allowed two terms leading Benin, which in recent years has been hit by jihadist violence in the north.

On Tuesday, former Beninese president Thomas Boni Yayi, whose opposition Democrats party has been excluded from next year’s presidential elections, condemned the failed coup.

“I condemn most vigorously and strongly condemn this bloody and shameful attack on our country,” said Boni Yayi, a former chairman of the African Union who served as Benin’s president from 2006 to 2016.

The transfer of state power “responds to a single cardinal and unconditional principle: that of the ballot box, that of the people, that of free and transparent elections”, Boni Yayi added in a video posted on Facebook.
(AFP)

The House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee investigating multi-billion-naira power sector reforms on Tuesday interrogated officials of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), exposing fresh gaps between Nigeria’s installed power capacity and the electricity actually delivered to homes and industries.

Appearing before the committee chaired by Hon. Ibrahim Aliyu, TCN Managing Director, Dr. Sule Ahmad Abdulaziz, dismissed widely circulated claims that Nigeria currently generates 13,000 megawatts of electricity. He stressed that the figure reflects installed capacity—not what the national grid has ever produced.

“The highest ever generated this year was 5,801MW,” Abdulaziz said. “Nigeria has never produced 13,000MW on the national grid. That number is installed capacity, not generated capacity.”

He explained that until April 2024, the National Control Centre responsible for daily generation and dispatch records was under TCN’s direct supervision, giving the company access to “accurate and verifiable” data.

READ ALSO:Collapsed National Grid Restored – TCN

Responding to scrutiny from committee member Hon. Abubakar Fulata, who questioned why only about 6,000MW is typically wheeled despite supposedly higher available generation, Abdulaziz insisted TCN had never failed in transmission.
“Our transmission capacity today is 8,600MW,” he stated. “At no time has power been generated that TCN could not evacuate. Anyone claiming otherwise should produce the data.”

On the company’s financial health, TCN’s Executive Director of Finance told lawmakers the company is weighed down by massive debts owed by electricity distribution companies (DisCos), revealing: N217 billion in electricity subsidy debt (Jan 2015–Dec 2020) taken over by the Federal Government
N450 billion owed by DisCos from Jan 2021 to date.

Clarifying controversies around grid instability, a senior TCN system operations official said the company recorded 11 grid collapses, contrary to the 22–23 often quoted.

Giving a breakdown of causes, he explained that six collapses were caused by generation issues, including gas shortages, four linked to vandalism of transmission towers, leading to sudden loss of load, one triggered by distribution network failures, often due to rainfall-induced feeder trips.

READ ALSO:Blackout Looms As Vandals, Again, Attack Transmission Line – TCN

He emphasised that all three segments generation, transmission and distribution can trigger system collapse, adding that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), with Central Bank support, had implemented Service Level Agreement (SLA) interventions to address systemic bottlenecks.

TCN officials further disclosed the company has over 100 ongoing transmission projects, many of which are 65%–90% complete but stalled for lack of funding.
“Power infrastructure cannot be energised at 99%. It must be 100% complete,” an official noted.

“If outstanding debts are paid, we can finish priority projects and strengthen the grid.”

He added that TCN aims to expand wheeling capacity to 10,000MW by March next year through network upgrades and simulation-based grid optimisation.

Committee chairman Hon. Ibrahim Aliyu said the presentations had clarified earlier misconceptions about TCN’s role in the sector’s failures but expressed concern over the slow expansion of critical infrastructure, pledging the parliament intervention to address the anomaly in due course.

The Ijaw Publishers’ Forum (IPF) has called for caution over the threats of issuing a warrant of arrest on Dr. Dennis Otuaro, Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), by the House of Representatives.

Addressing journalists in Warri during a press conference, IPF President, Comrade Austin Ozobo, said the allegations on which the House invited Otuaro and he allegedly refused to appear, were an audit report of 2021, a period, the body said Otuaro was yet to be in the office.

Ozobo, flanked by other executives of the body stressed that “any attempt to use a 2021 report to malign a 2024 appointee is misleading and raises concerns about the true intent behind the current aggression.”

“It is necessary to state clearly that the news and allegations being referenced by the Committee relate to an Amnesty Audit Report of 2021, a period long before Chief Dr. Otuaro assumed office.

READ ALSO:Gbaboyor’s Allegations Against Otuaro Baseless, Malicious — PAP Office

“Chief Otuaro was appointed in 2024, and therefore should not be associated with issues arising from an audit that predates his tenure by several years. “

The IPF, while alleging that “this action, coming after claims of six invitations, carries the markings of yet another sponsored political attack targeted at an Ijaw son who has distinguished himself in national service,” vowed not to “remain silent while the image of the Ijaw nation is attacked under the pretext of oversight.”

The IPF, therefore, urged House to “step down its current aggressive posture and conduct oversight with fairness and without bias.”

The Ijaw media practitioners urged the Green Chamber to “avoid actions that could destabilise the fragile peace in the Niger Delta, particularly when the PAP is recording success under Otuaro’s leadership.”

IPF further urged to “prioritise urgent national issues such as insecurity, the soaring cost of living, and failing institutions.”