A new report by The PUNCH has revealed that military intelligence traced about N11bn to the bank accounts of a colonel detained in connection with an alleged coup plot involving several senior military officers.
According to The PUNCH, top-level security sources said the financial discovery strengthened the link between the detained officer and the purported coup network.
An officer familiar with the investigation said the colonel, who served directly under a brigadier general now also under probe, had previously been deployed in the Niger Delta region.
“When interrogated, the colonel claimed that the funds belonged to a former governor, whom he described as his business partner. He insisted that the money was meant for a legitimate business transaction,” the source said.
The report indicated that the ongoing probe forms part of a wider investigation launched after intelligence reports in August 2024 suggested that some serving officers were plotting to overthrow the government.
Security sources said the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) began tracking communications, financial transactions, and foreign contacts linked to the suspects months before any arrests were made.
“The coup plotters have been under the radar since August 2024, when the service got wind of the plot. They mapped out three different times to strike, two of which were the June 12 Democracy Day and the October 1 Independence Day this year,” a source said. “They met in the UK and Turkey this year. But the DIA was patiently gathering facts and evidence before swooping on them.”
DIA’s Intervention
The PUNCH reported that intelligence gathered during the DIA’s surveillance led to a review of presidential movements. Sources said President Bola Tinubu’s frequent stays in Lagos and reduced presence in Abuja were partly informed by security assessments.
“The first countermeasure taken was to divert the President’s movement in recent times,” one source noted. “There was credible intelligence that they would execute the coup operation on October 1, and that was why the Independence Day celebration was cancelled. It was an operation that lasted for over a year, since August last year. But the service was ahead of them because they had access to their communications.”
Service Chiefs’ Dismissal
Last Friday, President Tinubu dismissed all the service chiefs and announced their replacements. Sunday PUNCH reported that the removal of the former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, was partly tied to a public statement issued by the Defence Headquarters confirming the arrest of 16 officers.
A credible source described the disclosure as a “management error.” The source said, “Information about the arrest of the 16 officers shouldn’t have been in the public domain. The management of the situation was essential because they didn’t want people to have justification for the plot. The international community might begin to misinterpret the situation. The fact that the Chief of Defence Staff was careless by disclosing that they arrested 16 officers was a bad approach to management. That carelessness necessitated the change of the service chiefs.”
The source added that dismissing all the service chiefs simultaneously was meant to conceal the disciplinary motive and avoid speculation that Musa alone was being punished.
The alleged coup plot was first reported by Sahara Reporters, while Premium Times later published detailed profiles of the implicated officers.
Some of the indicted officers reportedly hail from Nasarawa, Niger, Bauchi, Kaduna, Plateau, Gombe, Katsina, Jigawa, and the Federal Capital Territory.
A security source said the continued silence by authorities aims to prevent political tension and ethnic divisions within the military hierarchy.
President Tinubu last week decorated the new service chiefs at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, urging them to intensify the fight against terrorism, banditry, and other threats to national security.
