Benin's President Thomas Boni Yayi, newly elected as African Union President, participates in the 18th African Union (AU) summit in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa January 30, 2012.
Benin's President Thomas Boni Yayi. REUTERS/Noor Khamis

Prosecutors have charged three people with trying to murder the president of Benin, Thomas Boni Yayi, by seeking to poison him.

The accused comprise the president’s doctor, Ibrahim Mama Cisse, one of his nieces, Zouberath Kora-Seke, and Moudjaidou Soumanou, a former government commerce minister.

Officials also plan to issue an arrest warrant for a fourth person in connection with the plot, businessman Patrice Talon, a former ally of the president. Talon reportedly offered the equivalent of $2-million each to Kora-Seke and Dr. Cisse to kill Yayi by substituting poison for his medicine, during an official visit to Brussels, Belgium. Soumanou allegedly acted as n intermediary in the conspiracy.

Chief prosecutor Justin Gbenameto said the plot was foiled when the niece told her sister and other people about the plan. (they alerted the president).

"The prosecution has requested that they should be charged with conspiracy and attempted murder," Gbenameto said.

Yayi, 60, also survived an assassination attempt in 2007. Elected to the president in 2007 and re-elected last year, he is also the chairman of the African Union.

Located just to the west of Nigeria, Benin is wracked by political corruption and severe poverty, ranking among one of the world’s poorest nations.

Nigeria