By Passman Akpos
Human rights activist and pro-democracy campaigner, Omoyele Sowore, has alleged that the recent upheavals in Guinea-Bissau and the Republic of Benin bear disturbing similarities, insisting that both incidents were less about genuine military takeovers and more about political manipulation driven by embattled civilian leaders.
In a strongly worded statement, Sowore described the crisis in Guinea-Bissau as a “phony coup,” accusing the country’s former president of inviting military interference in order to avoid holding elections and handing power to a popular opposition candidate. He argued that what transpired was “not a seizure of power to restore order, but a manipulation of force to escape democratic progress.”
Sowore drew the same pattern in neighbouring Benin Republic, where reports of an attempted coup on Sunday unsettled the subregion. He alleged that President Patrice Talon may have had prior knowledge of the alleged plot and allowed events to unfold to serve political interests.
According to him, “there are strong indications that President Patrice Talon… may have been aware of the coup plot, allowed it to unfold, and then used it as a political diversion to shift public attention away from his growing unpopularity.”
He warned that the orchestrated drama, if proven true, represents a dangerous tactic where “instability becomes a calculated tool of political survival rather than an unforeseen threat to democracy.”
Reaffirming his staunch opposition to military rule, the former presidential candidate noted that coups — “invited, staged, or exploited” — remain unacceptable. He stressed that the solution to poor governance lies not in “guns, military jackboots, and camouflage,” but in accountability, civic resistance, and genuine democratic reforms.
Sowore, whose #RevolutionNow movement has consistently campaigned for radical democratic change in Nigeria and beyond, concluded by emphasizing that real progress depends on determined popular struggle, not shortcuts or manufactured chaos.
