Niamey is stripping some of its own citizens of nationality while continuing to shield Kemi Seba, a Beninese national wanted by Cotonou’s courts. The contradiction is already casting a shadow over the fragile reconciliation between Niger and Benin.
The Kemi Seba case: a new legal and political dimension
The Kemi Seba affair has entered a new phase. Arrested in South Africa in April 2026, the Beninese activist is now the subject of an extradition procedure to Benin. Cotonou is seeking him in connection with the attempted coup of 7 December 2025. Beninese authorities accuse him of backing the putschists and have issued arrest warrants against him. Kemi Seba rejects the charges.
Since then, his attention has turned to Niger.
That is no coincidence.
Kemi Seba holds a Nigerien diplomatic passport and the status of special adviser to General Abdourahamane Tiani, positions he obtained in 2024. It was through that diplomatic passport that he is believed to have entered South Africa in late 2025.
Niger therefore now stands at the centre of the activist’s defence strategy against Benin’s extradition request.
The situation raises an awkward political question for Niamey: how can the Nigerien authorities justify granting institutional protection to a Beninese national wanted by Cotonou’s courts, while at the same time temporarily stripping several of their own citizens of their nationality?
Nigeriens stripped, a Beninese protected
The contrast is striking.
On 17 September 2026, Abdourahamane Tiani signed a decree provisionally stripping five people of Nigerien nationality: former Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou and four other Nigeriens, including former associates of Mohamed Bazoum and a social media activist. The Nigerien government accuses them of intelligence with foreign powers, undermining state security, disseminating data likely to disturb public order, and activities liable to disrupt public peace and security.
These are provisional revocations, issued under an ordinance adopted in 2024. According to the Nigerien press agency, the latest decision brings to 25 the number of people provisionally stripped of their nationality since the mechanism was introduced.
Niamey presents these measures as necessary to defend fundamental interests and national security.
But their growing use has also fuelled controversy over the political use of nationality. Human Rights Watch says the mechanism raises serious concerns about human rights and procedural safeguards.
It is against this backdrop that the Kemi Seba case stands out.
Politically, the symbolism remains powerful.
On one side, Nigeriens are provisionally deprived of their nationality in the name of protecting the state and its fundamental interests. On the other, a Beninese national, long engaged in a discourse radically hostile to Western influence, enjoys official status with the Nigerien head of state and a diplomatic passport.
The contrast could hardly be more visible.
Kemi Seba: from asset to liability
Kemi Seba is no outside observer of the sub-region’s political tensions.
A pan-Africanist activist known for his attacks on France and Western influence in Africa, he has moved closer to the Sahel’s military regimes in recent years. His rapprochement with Niamey was cemented by his appointment as Tiani’s special adviser.
His stance towards Benin is particularly confrontational.
After the attempted coup of 7 December 2025, Kemi Seba was targeted by Beninese arrest warrants. According to Cotonou, his statements and certain videos circulated at the time of the events amounted to support for those who tried to overthrow the government. Benin then launched a procedure to extradite him from South Africa.
But politically, the problem remains for Niamey.
Kemi Seba is now directly linked to a case that touches Benin’s political stability. And the fact that he holds official status with the Nigerien president cannot go unnoticed in Cotonou.
A fragile rapprochement between Niamey and Cotonou
The affair comes at a particularly delicate moment in relations between the two neighbours.
After several years of tensions following the July 2023 coup in Niger, Niamey and Cotonou recently began to revive dialogue.
On 2 June 2026, Beninese President Romuald Wadagni travelled to Niamey for a meeting with Abdourahamane Tiani. The Beninese presidency presented the visit as a sign of warming relations and a willingness to relaunch bilateral cooperation.
That rapprochement is strategic for both states.
Niger and Benin are neighbours. They share economic interests, populations living on both sides of the border and common security challenges. Their cooperation also matters for trade and the movement of people and goods.
Any deterioration in trust between Niamey and Cotonou therefore has consequences that go well beyond diplomacy.
That is why the Kemi Seba case comes at the wrong time.
As the two countries try to turn the page on years of confrontation, maintaining a privileged relationship between the Nigerien authorities and a man wanted by Beninese justice risks fuelling misunderstandings.
Tiani’s political paradox
The problem for Niamey is not whether Kemi Seba is guilty or innocent. That is a matter for the courts.
It is rather about the political message sent by the Nigerien authorities.
Tiani says he places national sovereignty, the defence of Niger’s fundamental interests and the fight against external threats at the heart of his action. In that logic, Nigeriens accused of undermining state security can face a measure as severe as provisional loss of nationality.
Yet at the same time, Niamey maintains institutional proximity to Kemi Seba, a foreign national whose country of origin is now demanding his extradition.
That difference in treatment inevitably raises a question of consistency.
Can sovereignty be invoked to punish Nigerien citizens severely while also serving as a shield for a foreign national wanted by a neighbouring state’s justice system?
It is precisely this question that risks haunting relations between Niamey and Cotonou.
Reconciliation tested by Kemi Seba
Normalisation between Niger and Benin cannot rest solely on meetings between leaders and statements of intent.
It will also require gestures capable of restoring trust.
In the Kemi Seba case, Niamey is in a delicate position. By granting the activist a diplomatic passport and an official role, Tiani’s government created an institutional link that goes far beyond a simple relationship with a foreign militant.
Today, that choice is back in the spotlight just as Benin demands his handover.
Niger can naturally defend its sovereign choices. Benin can pursue the legal procedures it deems necessary. And South Africa remains sovereign in the decision it will take at the end of the extradition process.
But politically, one reality stands out: the protection granted to Kemi Seba complicates the rapprochement between Niamey and Cotonou.
The paradox is all the stronger because this protection comes as the Nigerien regime simultaneously hardens its policy towards several of its own citizens.
Between the provisional loss of nationality for Nigeriens accused of harming state interests and the diplomatic passport granted to a Beninese wanted by Cotonou, Tiani’s government will sooner or later have to answer a question of political consistency.
For if Niamey truly wants to restore lasting relations with Cotonou, it will have to show that the rapprochement between the two countries goes beyond official ceremonies.
Reconciliation is also built on trust. And in the Kemi Seba affair, that trust remains visibly fragile.
