Benin: Edgard Guidibi now facing 3 legal fronts

The judicial liability of the former technical advisor to the Presidency of the Republic, Edgard Guidibi, is significantly increasing.

Already placed under detention since October 2025 by the Special Court for Land Affairs (CSAF) in the context of an ongoing criminal investigation, the pastor and real estate promoter has just suffered a serious setback on the commercial front, reports Lamarina.bj.

Seized in March 2026, the Commercial Court of Cotonou declared the resolution of a payment agreement signed four years earlier and ordered the debtor to repay the exact amount of 55,028,420 francs CFA to the microfinance institution Financial Development (Finadev) SA.

This commercial case is rooted in a financial saga that dates back ten years. In October 2016, Edgard Guidibi took out a loan of 100 million francs CFA from Finadev SA to finance his activities. Facing chronic repayment difficulties, and after an unsuccessful restructuring of the debt in 2018, both parties had hoped to seal a definitive settlement on April 11, 2022.

Through a notarial deed of payment settlement, the promoter transferred ownership of a one and a half-hectare plot of land located in Hêvié Ahouanondja to the financial institution, thereby extinguishing the remaining balance of his debt, which was just over 55 million francs CFA. However, this payment in kind was based on a deeply unstable asset.

The apparent resolution of the conflict lasted only two months. By June 2022, the company Global Service Plus, founded by Edgard Guidibi himself, officially informed Finadev that a land dispute pitted the original selling community, the Tchin community, against third parties claiming property rights over the domain.

This conflict immediately paralyzed the partitioning procedures, preventing the microfinance institution from enhancing or selling the land to recover its funds.

Faced with this completely frozen asset, the provisional administrator of Finadev SA, Mr. Aymar C. Adonon, invoked in March 2026 the resolutory clause provided for in Article 7 of their agreement. This safeguard clause expressly stated that if a claim action by third parties arose regarding the parcel, Finadev could demand the immediate repayment of the debt in cash without waiting for the outcome of the dispute.

The Commercial Court of Cotonou validated this action by issuing its ruling on June 4, 2026. With criminal, land, and commercial matters at play, three simultaneous judicial fronts now weigh down on the former manager of Global Service Plus.