Benin’s Foiled Coup: Cash, Conspiracies, and Close Calls

Well, well, well. Looks like Benin just dodged a bullet – or should we say, a coup. The state prosecutor’s dropping bombshells left and right, and it reads like a spy novel gone wrong.

Picture this: It’s the dead of night, and former sports minister Oswald Homeky is caught red-handed, passing bags of cash to the head of the republican guard. Talk about a Hail Mary play gone wrong!

But wait, there’s more. Turns out Oswald Homeky was not flying solo. He had a wingman in businessman Olivier Boko. Their grand plan? Grease the palms of the military bigwig to look the other way while they staged a coup on September 27. Spoiler alert: It did not work out.

Now, these three amigos are cooling their heels in custody while the investigators are turning over every rock to find more conspirators. It’s like a game of whack-a-mole, but with potential coup plotters.

This is not just a Benin problem, though. West and Central Africa have been seeing more coups than a chicken coop lately. Just when they thought they had shed that “coup belt” nickname, boom – corruption and insecurity open the door for military shenanigans.
As Benin breathes a sigh of relief, one thing is for sure – democracy in this part of the world is still walking a tightrope. And it looks like some folks are all too ready to give it a push.