At least five military officers detained over an alleged coup plot to overthrow President Bola Tinubu’s government have reportedly fallen ill while in custody, with two said to have collapsed last week.
Sources told Sahara Reporters that the officers, who were initially held at the Defence Intelligence Agency headquarters in Abuja, were later moved to a dark, underground military detention facility.
“About five of them are critically sick and two of them collapsed last week. Till now, some of them are keeping mum,” a military source said.
The source alleged that one of the detained officers was not directly involved in the alleged plot but was being punished for having prior knowledge without alerting authorities.
Relatives of the detained officers alleged that they had been kept in the dark about the whereabouts of their loved ones for months.
“We have been denied access to them since their arrest. We don’t even know where they were moved to,” a family member said.
One of the wives of the detained officers said families were considering staging a protest at the DIA facility in Abuja to demand information.
“About 15 of us want to go there and ask if our husbands are still alive,” she said.
She added that families had been denied access to lawyers and that the officers’ ATM cards were confiscated, leaving dependants unable to meet basic needs.
“We can’t pay our children’s school fees or take care of other responsibilities,” she lamented.
Background to arrests
In October 2025, several senior military officers were arrested by the Defence Intelligence Agency over an alleged plot to overthrow the Tinubu administration.
The investigation is being handled by the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Lt.-Gen. Emmanuel Parker Undiandeye, who was reappointed by the President on October 24, 2025.
Military sources said the arrests cut across the Nigerian Army, Navy and Air Force and followed weeks of covert surveillance and coordinated operations.
According to Premium Times, the detained officers reportedly include:
Brig.-Gen. Musa Abubakar Sadiq, alleged to be the leader of the plot;
Col. M.A. Ma’aji;
Lt.-Cols. S. Bappah, A.A. Hayatu, P. Dangnap and M. Almakura;
Majors A.J. Ibrahim, M.M. Jiddah, M.A. Usman, D. Yusuf and I. Dauda;
Captains Ibrahim Bello and A.A. Yusuf;
Lt. S.S. Felix;
Lt.-Cmdr. D.B. Abdullahi of the Nigerian Navy;
Sqn. Ldr. S.B. Adamu of the Nigerian Air Force.
Some of the officers, sources said, had previously faced disciplinary or operational controversies.
Sylva’s residence raided
The case also took a political turn after military operatives reportedly raided the Abuja residence of a former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva.
Security sources said the operation followed intelligence reports linking a former South-South governor to alleged meetings with some of the detained officers.
Sylva later confirmed the raid but denied any involvement in the alleged coup plot.