Shielded Army Witness Lays Bare Alleged Coup Plot Against Tinubu in Court

A Nigerian Army officer, testifying under court-ordered protection with his identity concealed, on Wednesday provided the most detailed account yet of how an alleged plot to overthrow President Bola Tinubu was planned, financed, and ultimately uncovered by military investigators.

The witness, codenamed AAA and drawn from the Nigerian Army Corps of Military Police, gave evidence in the trial of a retired major-general and five others facing 13 counts of treason, terrorism, failure to disclose information, and money laundering before Judge Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The six defendants are Mohammed Ibrahim Gana, a retired major-general; Erasmus Ochegobia Victor, a retired navy captain; Ahmed Ibrahim, a police inspector; Zekeri Umoru, a Presidential Villa electrician; Bukar Kashim Goni; and Abdulkadir Sani, a Zaria-based Islamic cleric. All six pleaded not guilty when arraigned on 22 April.

The witness told the court that the plot was first flagged through an intelligence report received by then Chief of Army Staff Olufemi Oluyede now Chief of Defence Staff. The report alleged that Colonel Mohammed Ma’aji was coordinating with serving and retired military officers, as well as former Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva, to topple the Tinubu administration. Upon assessment, the intelligence was found credible and a full investigation ordered.

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The physical evidence recovered was damning. Upon Ma’aji’s arrest, investigators seized his Samsung Galaxy Z series phone and searched his residence, where they found a jotter containing operational plans, names and designations of government officials earmarked for assassination, and a list of political and structural changes to be implemented after the coup’s execution. Forensic analysis of the phone, he said, revealed further links between Ma’aji, military officers, and civilian co-defendants now standing trial.

The witness also disclosed a financial trail, naming Purple Waves Limited as the conduit used to sponsor the plot. He said several transactions between 19 September and 2 October 2025 showed multiple transfers including amounts of N100 million, N50 million, N80 million, N70 million, and N90 million bearing different narrations but allegedly traceable to coup financing. The EFCC, he said, handled the bulk of the financial investigation.

The plotters also held a series of planning meetings at Green Land Apartment and Brookville Hotel in Abuja, where participants reportedly discussed regime change, identified officials to be killed, assigned roles, shared post-coup appointments, and even conducted spiritual divination. Receipts and hotel letters from the venues were admitted as exhibits.

The trial was adjourned to 4 May for continuation, with video recordings of defendants’ statements still to be formally tendered after a prosecution oversight over frontloading was flagged by defence counsel.