Coup plot: Innocent suspects will be released after investigation, defence minister says

Nigeria’s Defence Minister Christopher Musa says people arrested over an alleged coup plot will be released if investigators determine they have no case to answer. He said the government was taking time to avoid wrongly implicating innocent people.

“Those that have serious issues are the ones that are going,” Musa said in an interview with Channels Television’s Politics Today. He added that only suspects identified as the main actors should face prosecution.

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Those that have serious issues are the ones that are going.

The Department of State Services and the National Intelligence Agency are still investigating the case, Musa said. Some suspects have already been taken to court, leaving those proceedings with the judiciary. Other suspects have yet to be found.

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We want to take time to make sure that anybody that is freed doesn’t deserve to be punished.

Musa said the coup plot was real and that those involved intended to carry it out. He rejected the suggestion that it was politically motivated, saying the alleged plotters may have been recalling earlier military regimes, when officers became governors and ministers, and wanted similar opportunities.

The case dates back to October 2025, when Defence Headquarters announced the arrest of 16 senior military officers over alleged indiscipline and breaches of service regulations. The arrests were later linked to an alleged plan to overthrow President Bola Tinubu’s government. An interim investigation report said a clandestine network had begun preliminary planning and had monitored sites including the Presidential Villa, the Armed Forces Complex, Niger Barracks in Abuja and major international airports.

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No. I think the intent of the plotters is they just probably reminisce about the past military regimes, how they became governors and became ministers and all this, and they felt, ‘Man, it’s been a long time. Maybe it’s time for us to also be able to benefit from that,’