EXCLUSIVE: How suspected coup plotters planned to kill Tinubu, Shettima, other top officials

Top intelligence sources have revealed how some disgruntled military officers allegedly planned a coup to overthrow President Bola Tinubu in a plot that security officials describe as one of the most audacious threats to Nigeria’s democracy.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported how about 20 officers were arrested and detained for planning to stage the coup.

A top military source familiar with the development told this newspaper that the plot caused tension in the government, forcing the presidency to cancel the National Independence Day parade usually done on 1 October.

However, an investigative panel has been set up to probe the officers involved.

25th October

According to insider accounts, the coup planners scheduled 25 October to strike.

“That was the tentative date,” the source said. “If things did not work out that day, they will continue plotting.”

The Independence Day parade would have been observed, according to our sources.

“The parade could have been held since the arrests were made before 01 October, but the government did not want to take risk since it was a military ceremony,” another officer said.

There are no clear details about the identities of the officers involved yet.

‘Tinubu, Shettima , others targeted for assasination’

Key officials targeted for assasination include President Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, our source said.

“There are other people targeted,” the source noted. “But those are the key targets.”

“They also planned to arrest top military officers, including the service chiefs,” he continued. “They did not want to kill them.”

The coup planners wanted to assassinate these officials simultaneously. “They were targeting the day that all of them would be in the country. Wherever they were, they would be assassinated,” he added.

Our source said the plotters worked with informants in the Presidential Villa and around those marked for assasination.

“They have people in the villa that monitor movements of these officials,” he said. “They wanted to kill them at the same time and install a military government.”

Neither the presidency nor the military has commented about this development, but the plot created tension both in the government and military ranks.

READ ALSO: Nigeria begins probe of military officers detained for alleged coup plot

In a statement dated 4 October, the Defence Headquarters spokesperson Tukur Gusau, a brigadier-general, said the arrested officers “were being investigated for indiscipline and breach of service regulations.”

Mr Gusau added that preliminary findings indicated that the officers’ grievances stemmed from “career stagnation and failure in promotion examinations.”