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Two men close to Benin’s president who had been detained last week on suspicions of plotting a coup in the small West African country have been remanded in custody ahead of their trial, one of their lawyers have revealed on Thursday.
Olivier Boko — a businessman and longtime friend of President Patrice Talon — and Oswald Homeky — a former sports minister — have also been charged with “conspiracy against state security, corruption of public funds and money laundering,” according to the lawyer, Ayodele Ahounou.
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Both men had been arrested after being accused of bribing the commander in charge of the president’s security to carry out a coup.
Homeky was caught on Tuesday while allegedly handing over six bags of money to the head of the Republican Guard, according to Elonm Mario Metonou, the special prosecutor at Benin’s court for financial crimes and terrorism.
Boko, often seen as Talon’s “right-hand man,” is accused of being the mastermind behind the coup attempt and was arrested separately in Benin’s capital Cotonou. He had recently expressed interest in being a candidate in the country’s 2026 presidential election.
Both men were placed in pre-trial detention, Ahounou said.
Benin has been among the most stable democracies in Africa, but President Patrice Talon is accused of using the justice system to attack his political opponents after taking office in 2016 and changing electoral rules to enable him to consolidate power in 2021.
Following his reelection three years ago, Talon promised not to seek a third term in office in the 2026 election. Benin’s constitution limits the number of presidential terms to two.
In other news, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has officially announced that United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will not be permitted to enter Israel, a decision that reflects the increasing strain in relations between Israel and the UN.
The news was conveyed via Katz’s official account on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, reflecting a notable development in the context.
This decision comes in response to what Katz characterized as Guterres’ failure to publicly condemn Iran’s missile strike against Israel, highlighting the tensions surrounding the situation.
