Sixteen Nigerian Army officers, including a brigadier general and a colonel, have been detained for allegedly planning a coup to overthrow President Bola Tinubu. The officers, mostly from Northern Nigeria, are attached to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), led by Nuhu Ribadu.
The arrests, made in late September, followed intelligence reports of secret meetings where the officers expressed discontent with the administration, reportedly aiming to establish a military government.
A senior Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) official revealed that the plot, led by Lieutenant Colonel Al-Makura—a nephew of former Nasarawa State Governor Tanko Umaru Al-Makura—was thwarted through intelligence gathered by the DIA and other agencies. Al-Makura, recently returned from a combat course in China, was posted to the NSA’s office months ago. Another officer with the same name, the Commanding Officer of 343 Artillery Regiment in Elele, was briefly detained but released after investigations cleared him.
The Nigerian military initially claimed the detentions were due to “indiscipline and breach of service regulations,” citing issues like repeated promotion exam failures and career stagnation. However, sources confirmed the coup plot as the true reason, which also led to the cancellation of the October 1 Independence Day parade due to government concerns over security risks. Most of the detained officers, described as young and possibly misled, remain in DIA custody without access to their families.
The Defence Headquarters denied coup allegations, calling them “false and malicious” and stating that the parade cancellation was due to Tinubu’s international commitments and ongoing security operations. An investigative panel, comprising representatives from the army, air force, navy, police, and State Security Service, is probing the matter, with findings to be made public. The military reaffirmed its loyalty to Tinubu and Nigeria’s democracy.
