A regime on edge: Tiani’s widening purge after the failed coup
When a leader who seized power by force starts fearing the same fate, every shadow becomes a threat. In Niger, that fear now has a name: the 17 September decree stripping five citizens of their nationality, including former prime minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou.
The move came after a failed coup attempt on 29 August that shook the military apparatus to its core. Abdourahamane Tiani, who took power in July 2023 by overthrowing Mohamed Bazoum, suddenly faced the same scenario he had once orchestrated but this time the gunfire came from within.
What happened on 29 August
The presidential palace was targeted. Air base 101 was attacked. The state broadcaster was stormed. For hours, the balance of power inside the military remained uncertain, with some officers hesitant to take sides while mutineers tried to rally others.
The coup attempt did not topple Tiani. But it fundamentally altered the equation of power. Reports indicate that several hundred Russian Africa Corps soldiers were needed to retake air base 101. At least 200 military personnel have been arrested since 29 August, mostly from special forces units.
Then the command chain began to shift. On 11 September, army chief of staff General Moussa Salaou Barmou was dismissed. Days later, four ministers were replaced. The regime, after being directly threatened, began closing ranks around those it considers most reliable.
The decree that changed everything
On 17 September, Tiani signed a decree provisionally stripping five people of their Nigerien nationality. Among them: Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou, who served as prime minister under Bazoum.
The decree cites “intelligence with foreign powers,” dissemination of data likely to disturb public order, alleged participation in demoralizing the army and the nation, and threats to state security. These are accusations and legal proceedings mentioned in the decree not a final judicial conviction.
But politically, the symbolism is heavy. Mahamadou is not just any opponent. He belongs to the former state apparatus, having served under the very president Tiani overthrew. With this decree, five citizens are now provisionally stripped of nationality under a 2024 framework. According to the Nigerien Press Agency, the total has reached 25 people.
Bazoum is gone, but his shadow lingers
Three years after the coup, former president Mohamed Bazoum remains a central figure in Niger’s political confrontation. His regime has vanished. His institutions have been dismantled. Yet the men who served him keep appearing in the new power’s security and judicial files.
This raises a troubling question: at what point does defending the state stop being a security operation and become a political cleanup? The question deserves to be asked without presuming guilt or innocence.
A power that sees enemies everywhere
Since 29 August, the threat facing Niger’s leadership no longer comes only from armed groups or external adversaries. It can now emerge from within the military apparatus itself. When soldiers’ loyalty becomes a central question, the temptation to hunt for culprits, relays, accomplices and sponsors grows.
The risk is that suspicion becomes a method of governance. A military officer replaced. A minister sidelined. Soldiers arrested. Former Bazoum officials targeted. And now, citizens provisionally stripped of their nationality.
Taken separately, each act has its official justification. Taken together, they paint a picture of a power that, after being directly threatened, seeks to regain control of every circle that might represent a vulnerability.
The paradox of a regime born from a putsch
How can a government born from a coup govern sustainably when it discovers that another coup can be applied to it? Tiani now knows this mechanism from the inside. He understands that a military power can seem firmly installed until a few officers decide to cross a line.
29 August proved it. What was supposed to be impossible became possible. What was unthinkable unfolded around the presidential palace. When a power discovers it can be overthrown by the same methods that brought it to the top, fear of the next plot can quickly become a political obsession.
Critics see a troubling drift. By deciding who is loyal, who is suspect, who must be arrested, who must be sidelined and now who can provisionally keep their nationality Tiani gives the impression of a leader acting as if he alone holds the keys to the Republic. As if Niger must be divided between those who support the regime and those who must be excluded. As if serving under Bazoum constitutes a permanent political fault. As if every dissenting voice necessarily hides a conspiracy.
Tiani is obviously not Niger. But the concentration of decisions around his person fuels a fundamental question: how far can a regime go when, to protect itself, it ends up seeing threats behind every face?
From coup leader to coup target
The irony is stark. Tiani rose to power through a coup. Today, he leads a regime that has just survived its own coup attempt. Between these two dates, Niger seems to have tipped into a cycle where each crisis produces new purges, each suspicion triggers new sanctions, and each challenge reinforces the concentration of power.
The 17 September decree is not merely a matter of nationality. It is another episode in a larger battle: a power trying to eliminate zones of uncertainty around itself.
One question remains, perhaps the most important: by fighting real or supposed plots, is Tiani building a system where any dissent automatically becomes a conspiracy? If so, the problem would no longer be just who wants to overthrow Tiani. It would also be why a regime that claims to be firmly installed now seems so afraid of those around it. And above all, how far this logic will go. For when a regime starts treating its own citizens as potential threats, the line between protecting the state and protecting the power becomes dangerously thin.
By Rose Njoya — Political News Reporter
