How alleged coup attempt against Tinubu was planned, uncovered – Witness

An army officer on Wednesday testified before the Federal High Court in Abuja, detailing how investigators allegedly uncovered a plot to overthrow President Bola Tinubu and the financial and operational links between suspects. The witness, who said he serves in the Nigerian Army Corps of Military Police, gave evidence in the trial of a retired […]

An army officer on Wednesday testified before the Federal High Court in Abuja, detailing how investigators allegedly uncovered a plot to overthrow President Bola Tinubu and the financial and operational links between suspects.

The witness, who said he serves in the Nigerian Army Corps of Military Police, gave evidence in the trial of a retired major-general and five others facing charges of treason, terrorism, failure to disclose information and money laundering.        

They are being tried before Judge Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The officer, whose details including name were not given as part of a court-ordered witness protection measure, was codenamed AAA.            

He told the court that intelligence reports linked Mohammed Ma’aji, a colonel, to an alleged conspiracy involving some serving and retired military officers, as well as former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva.

AAA, who is the fourth prosecution witness, said the report, received by the then Chief of Army Staff, Olufemi Oluyede, now Chief of Defence Staff, pointed to coordination between Mr Maa’ji, Mr Sylva and other suspects standing trial.

According to him, the intelligence was assessed, found credible, and formed the basis for the investigation that led to Mr Ma’aji’s arrest and the recovery of electronic and documentary evidence allegedly linking the suspects to the plot.

The federal government filed 13 counts of treason, terrorism, failure to disclose information and money laundering against a retired army general and five others over an alleged plot against President Bola Tinubu.

The defendants are Mohammed Ibrahim Gana, a retired major-general; Erasmus Ochegobia Victor, a retired navy captain; Ahmed Ibrahim, a police inspector; and Zekeri Umoru, an electrician at the Presidential Villa.

Others are Bukar Kashim Goni and Abdulkadir Sani, a Zaria-based Islamic cleric. They were arraigned on 22 April and all six pleaded not guilty when the charges were read in court.

At Wednesday’s proceedings, which marked the start of trial, prosecution lawyer Rotimi Oyedepo told the court that four witnesses were present and the prosecution was ready to proceed.

How the coup was plotted – Witness

Led in evidence by Mr Oyedepo, the fourth prosecution witness told the court that individuals mentioned during investigation included Colonel Maaji and that former serving and retired officers conspired to overthrow President Tinubu.

AAA said Mr Ma’aji was arrested and his phone, a Samsung Galaxy Z series, was recovered from him.

“We also proceeded to his residence, conducted a search and recovered a jotter. Inside the jotter, we found operational plans, names and designation of ranking members of the current regime as well as officers that were to assassinate them.

“Also, inside the jotter, we found political and structural changes to be made upon execution of the coup,” AAA testified.

He said forensic analysis of the phone revealed alleged links between Mr Ma’aji, some officers and civilians standing trial before the court.

The witness also confirmed a forensic analysis document from the Nigerian Military Police.

Lawyers to the defendants objected to the tendering of the documents but opted to canvass arguments in their final addresses at the end of trial.

The documents, volumes three and four of the proof of evidence containing thousands of pages, were admitted in evidence and marked as exhibits P7 and P8 by the judge.

Financial trails

AAA also said they “found financial trails between Colonel Ma’aji and Mr Sylva and some of the defendants before this court.”

He said Purple Waves Limited was used as a conduit to sponsor the alleged coup plot. Exhibits P4 series, earlier tendered by one of the first three witnesses from SunTrust Bank were also shown to AAA.

The army officer said “the letter is what we used to discover the information, as well as the bank statement of Purple Waves and movement of funds from the company.”

The witness told the court that several financial transactions were recorded between 19 September and 2 October 2025, involving multiple debit entries running into hundreds of millions of naira. He said the transfers included amounts of N100 million, N50 million, N80 million, N70 million and N90 million on different dates within the period.

According to him, the transactions carried different narrations but were allegedly traced to the funding of the coup plot under investigation.

Meetings in relation to the alleged coup

The Army officer also said several meetings were held to overthrow the government in different states.

He said some meetings took place at Green Land Apartment and Brookville Hotel, Abuja.

He said investigators visited the hotels, saw the rooms used for meetings, and recovered receipts of payments and reservations.

He said participants discussed regime change, identified government officials to be assassinated, and assigned officers to carry out the plan.

He said the current defendants took part in identifying targets and key locations to be attacked.

He also said the plotters shared appointments among themselves, including agencies to be set up and merged after execution of the alleged coup.

The judge adjourned the case until 4 May for continuation of trial. (Premium Times)