PORTO-NOVO,
Benin
Benin’s state prosecutor said on Wednesday a former sports minister and a prominent businessman have been detained on suspicion of plotting a coup.
Ex-sports minister Oswald
Homeky was caught after 1 a.m. on Tuesday while handing over six bags of cash
to the head of the republican guard, who is also in charge of President Patrice
Talon’s security.
Investigators said they found
that Homeky and Beninese businessman Olivier Boko had paid off the military
commander to not resist a coup d’etat planned for Sept. 27.
Boko and the commander were
also detained and investigations are ongoing to identify other suspects,
prosecutor Elon’m Mario Metonou said in a statement.
There have been eight military
takeovers and several other coup attempts since 2020 in West and Central
Africa, a region that had made strides to shed its reputation as a “coup belt”
only for persistent insecurity and corruption to reopen the door to actions by
military leaders.
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