🇳🇬 Nigeria charges six people with treason over alleged Independence Day coup plot against Tinubu

Nigeria’s Attorney General has filed treason, terrorism, and money laundering charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja against six individuals accused of plotting to overthrow President Bola Tinubu. The defendants include retired Major General Mohammed Ibrahim Gana, retired Navy Captain Erasmus Ochegobia Victor, a serving police inspector, a Presidential Villa electrician, a civilian, and an Islamic cleric. A seventh suspect, former petroleum minister and ex-Bayelsa governor Timipre Sylva, was named in court documents but listed as still at large. The case is scheduled before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik on Wednesday.

Suspicions of a coup attempt first emerged in October 2025 when authorities abruptly cancelled the military parade marking Nigeria’s 65th Independence Anniversary, citing security threats. In January, the military separately announced that 16 officers would face a military court over the alleged plot.