Momodu says trip hitch saved Him From Benin coup scare

Former PDP presidential aspirant and Publisher, Dele Momodu, says a sudden hitch in his travel plans likely kept him from being caught in the middle of Benin Republic’s failed coup attempt.

Momodu said he was supposed to be in Cotonou at the exact time soldiers attempted to overthrow President Patrice Talon, noting that an unexpected setback that stopped his planned 5 a.m. road trip “was what saved us.”

Describing the experience as surreal, he explained that he had mapped out his usual route—from Lagos to Cotonou, then Lome, and finally Ghana—a journey he often enjoys on Sundays due to lighter traffic.

The disruption began the night before the trip when he discovered his driver only had a photocopy of the vehicle documents. The missing original triggered a late-night search across his Lagos offices. By around 11 p.m., he concluded the trip had to be cancelled.

He said he immediately contacted his travel partners to halt the journey, a decision he now believes spared them from being inside Benin during the unrest. Citing his faith, Momodu described the incident as divine intervention, adding that his Nigerian-registered vehicle would have made him easily noticeable during the tension.

The failed coup also brought back memories of his 1995 escape from Nigeria through the Seme border to Cotonou, onward to Lome, Ghana, and eventually England, where he lived for three years.

Momodu expressed concern that democracy in Africa appears to be regressing following a wave of coups in West Africa, but thanked God that Benin’s attempted coup was quickly thwarted.

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