Africa’s Shrinking Democratic Space

As you read this, Nigerian troops will have been deployed to the Republic of Benin, following President Bola Tinubu’s request and approval from the Nigerian Senate to deploy forces after an attempted coup in that West African country in the early hours of Sunday, 7 December 2025.

PBAT couldn’t have done anything less, considering Nigeria’s proximity to the Benin Republic, a country that currently hosts over five million Nigerians who reside and conduct legitimate businesses there.

But more importantly, Nigeria’s swift intervention, which helped neutralise the coup and successfully restore President Patrice Talon to power, was undertaken in enlightened self-interest. A coup in the Benin Republic would naturally send shivers down the spines of those in Aso Rock.

The botched coup

It was shocking when the leader of the failed Benin Republic coup, Lt Col Pascal Tigri, appeared on national television to announce the overthrow of President Patrice Talon’s government, hinting at a military take-over. But for the quick intervention of external forces, the Benin Republic incident would have added to the slowly growing list of countries on the continent under military rule.

If the Benin Republic coup had succeeded, ten African countries, including Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, Sudan, Guinea, Gabon, Madagascar, and Guinea-Bissau, would have been under military rule.

Now, with the coup plotters successfully dislodged, Nigeria is moving to the next phase of its determined efforts to help the Benin Republic stabilise its democratic institutions and the population, hence the decision to send troops.

Expectedly, when Senate President Godswill Akpabio read PBAT’s letter requesting troop deployment on the Senate floor, there was overwhelming support from the lawmakers present at the Tuesday plenary session. The Senate did not surprise most Nigerians, who have long dismissed the Red Chamber as a rubber stamp.

Flawed, hasty approval

However, there was something fundamentally wrong with that hasty approval. No careful interrogation. No exhaustive debate. No assessment of the implications for Nigeria’s own security and fragile economy. Just blanket approval. Sad.

Given that the request is coming at a time when Nigeria is struggling to address a seemingly intractable insecurity amid economic hardship, there should have been greater caution in making any decision that involves spending scarce resources abroad while domestic insecurity worsens.

Did the Senate even consider the financial implications? How can a country that borrows relentlessly but cannot execute up to 70% of its 2025 capital projects due to lack of funds deploy troops to stabilise democracy elsewhere when it doesn’t fund its own soldiers, police, and other security agencies well?

Can the Senate defend its approval for troop deployment despite the nation’s internal security challenges? But what do you expect from the Senate, which even some of its members admitted is a mere rubber stamp?

That Tinubu’s request raises legitimate concerns is incontestable. Nigeria’s military is clearly overstretched, struggling to handle the seemingly intractable internal security challenges. A deployment to the Benin Republic, no matter how minor, will mean further stretching the already overstretched Nigerian military beyond its elastic limit.

In 2022, then Chief of Defence Staff General Lucky Irabor stated that around 80 per cent of Nigeria’s Armed Forces personnel were deployed across all 36 states, performing duties that the police should have handled. From 2022 to date, has there been any change regarding troop deployment to states? No

This entire discussion about Nigeria deploying troops to the Benin Republic in support of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, which authorises ECOWAS to prevent conflict and enforce peace in the region, is jejune.

Beyond condemnation

While condemning the coup is necessary, it is more important to address the root causes of Africa’s rapid regression into militarism. There are clear indications that democracy is under threat in Africa.

Over the last couple of years, there have been nearly twenty coups or attempted coups in various countries on the continent, including Nigeria, where some military officers are currently being held for attempted coup.

The reason is simple. Democracy has not provided the much-needed solution to Africa’s challenges, not necessarily because the system is flawed, but mainly because the players have taken advantage of that system of government. The political leadership on the continent has failed.

Elections, which are the hallmark of democracy, are neither free nor transparent across the continent, and leaders persistently adopt a ‘sit tight’ attitude, consistently silencing opposition voices.

The history of democracy on the continent is not so pleasing to the ears. And here are a few examples. In Togo, for instance, Faure Essozimna Eyadema, who succeeded his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who had ruled Togo for 38 years, amended the constitution to eliminate term limits. What that means is that, like his father, who ruled from 1967 till his death in 2005, the junior Eyadema is likely to remain in power till he takes his last breath.

In Côte d’Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara just took another oath of office for the fourth term after a controversial 90% vote, which analysts described as a slide towards stability through control. The previous election in the country was marked by unrest, mainly because the process was anything but transparent.

In Tanzania, President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s election victory in the October 29 polls has been anything but credible, with activists protesting. The government responded with a crackdown that saw over 2,000 detained. Scores of the government’s critics disappeared in the months leading up to the election. That is the story of democracy in Africa.

While not justifying the attempted coup in the Republic of Benin, it is valuable to remind ourselves that the actions of the country’s leadership, particularly its efforts to silence opposition, pose a risk of disaster, including a military takeover.

How else can you practice democracy when dissenting voices are muzzled? There is no opposition in the Republic of Benin. The opposition leaders are either in jail or forced into exile.

Sheer pretence?

In Nigeria, although the government has not openly suppressed opposition, it has facilitated a gradual shift towards a one-party state. The two major opposition political parties- the People’s Democratic Party and the Labour Party- have been decimated.

Scores of governors and national and state assembly members elected on the platform of opposition political parties have been goaded into defecting to the ruling APC in a bid to actualise the drive towards a one-party state.

Just this week, Governor Sim Fubara of Rivers State defected to the ruling APC. When you analyse what Governor Fubara went through, including enduring a six-month state of emergency imposed on his state due mainly to a politically motivated crisis, you will understand why he had to defect to the APC.

Therefore, it amounts to sheer pretence for the Nigerian APC government, which has done everything and anything to aid the shift towards a one-party state, knowing fully well that multi-party democracy is the best for Nigeria, to claim to be defending democracy in the Benin Republic.

The continent might pretend nothing is wrong, for all its worth. However, the signs are clear: the military seizure of power, which has been gradually increasing since 2020, suggests that the continent is slipping back into the era of coups, largely because democracy has failed.

And the AU and ECOWAS must do better than mere lamentation. The regional bodies must be able to demand credible elections from member states. Merely declaring a state of emergency across the region, as ECOWAS did this week, is insufficient.

However, as ECOWAS President Omar Touray stated, the resurgence of coups highlights the need for “serious introspection on the future of democracy” on the continent.