FOILED COUP: Defence Minister Reveals Plot To Arrest Or Kill Him, Slams Suspects As ‘Very Unserious’

The Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (retd.), has revealed that he was among the primary targets of a recently foiled coup plot against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, disclosing that the conspirators planned to arrest him—or shoot him if he resisted.
Musa made the revelation on Sunday while speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, where he described the plotters as “a bunch of very unserious individuals” with no real capacity to challenge the Nigerian state.
According to the former Chief of Defence Staff, the plot was successfully neutralised through timely intelligence and coordinated action by security agencies, adding that he was personally marked for arrest by the coup planners.
“I was also a target. I was supposed to be arrested, and if I refused, I was supposed to be shot,” Musa said. “But that’s the job. Anybody who goes into a coup zeroes his mind. If he succeeds, good. If he doesn’t, he must be ready for the consequences.”
Dismissing the threat posed by the suspects, the Defence Minister said their actions betrayed a complete misunderstanding of Nigeria’s democratic evolution and the strength of its armed forces.
“These were just a bunch of very unserious individuals. If you look at the calibre of those involved, I really don’t know what got into their heads to think they could take on the armed forces like that,” he said.
Musa stressed that even without military intervention, Nigerians themselves would have resisted any attempt to overthrow a democratically elected government.
“Even Nigerians would have fought them. Remember how Nigerians struggled against military rule for years. Mr President himself was part of that struggle. So for anyone to think they could just wake up one morning and overthrow democracy in Nigeria, something is clearly wrong. They need to reset their brains,” he added.
On the arrests made so far, Musa said most of the suspects had been apprehended, with only “maybe one or two” still at large. He disclosed that the plot was allegedly spearheaded by a disgruntled colonel who failed to secure promotion.
“It started from the colonel himself. He didn’t meet the requirements for promotion and felt aggrieved. So he went around looking for others who had one issue or the other, with the aim of pulling them in,” Musa explained.
He expressed particular concern for junior officers who were allegedly misled into joining the plot, noting that they would now have to face severe consequences.
“My pain is for the young officers who didn’t understand what was going on and were dragged into this mess. Everything revolves around him as an individual. But he was just a colonel. I can’t even imagine a colonel thinking of doing such a thing,” he said.
The Defence Minister emphasised that executing a coup in modern-day Nigeria was virtually impossible, unlike in the past when such attempts often had the backing of top military commanders.
“That was Nigeria of yesterday. This is impossible today,” he said. “In those days, coups succeeded because they had the support of GOCs and service chiefs. This time, there was nothing like that—just low-ranking individuals with no access or influence.”
Musa added that investigations into the plot were thorough, fact-based and collaborative, involving the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the Department of State Services (DSS) and other security bodies.
“We made sure it was a holistic investigation because we didn’t want any innocent person to be indicted. You must have facts you can defend in court,” he said.
He also dismissed claims that the plot was a reaction to dissatisfaction with the Tinubu administration, noting that the plans predated the President’s inauguration.
“These things were planned even before the President took office, when they already knew he had won the election. It is quite unfortunate,” Musa said.
“For anyone to want to truncate democracy at this point in Nigeria, there is really something wrong with them.”