₦airaland Forum

The coup was initially scheduled for 29 May 2023 during the presidential inauguration, sources told this newspaper.

by Kabir Yusuf


As Nigerians prepared for the transfer of power on 29 May 2023, a group of military officers was quietly plotting to overthrow the country’s democracy and assassinate key political figures.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the coup plotters planned to violently disrupt the handover of power from former President Muhammadu Buhari to President Bola Tinubu.

Our sources said the failed plot was allegedly masterminded by Alhassan Ma’aji, a colonel with service number N/10668. Born on 1st March 1976, the Nupe native from Niger State started training on 18 August 1995 and finished on 16 September 2000.

The coup was initially scheduled for 29 May 2023 during the presidential inauguration. However, the plan was suspended due to insufficient funds and inadequate logistical arrangements, our sources said.

The conspirators then reactivated their plans in 2025 after a former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, who was accused of bankrolling the coup plotters, allegedly transferred almost N1 billion in multiple tranches to three separate bank accounts operated by a Bureau De Change operator.

Mr Sylva, 61, from Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, was later declared wanted by the EFCC last year. Before the declaration, the former governor had his home raided by soldiers investigating the failed plot to topple President Bola Tinubu.

Mr Sylva confirmed the raid at the time but denied any involvement in a coup attempt.


The Mastermind

Mr Ma’aji, the alleged mastermind of the coup, is a member of the infantry corps. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 2013 and to full colonel four years later. The 49-year-old officer was the Commanding Officer of the 19 Battalion of the Nigerian Army based in Okitipupa, Ondo State.

He took part in Operation Crocodile Smile II, a Nigerian Army military exercise conducted in 2017 to address security challenges in the Niger Delta and parts of the South-west. He also served at Depot, Nigerian Army and later as Commander, Operation Delta Safe.

He was a member of the 47 Regular Course of the NDA.


Assassination Targets

Mr Ma’aji and the other military officers allegedly planned a violent takeover in which top government officials were marked for elimination.

Earlier, government sources briefed on the investigation told this newspaper that the alleged plotters planned to assassinate President Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas.

After further investigation, PREMIUM TIMES can now report that the coupists also targeted Service Chiefs, Commander, Guards Brigade, among others, for assassination.

Some officers were assigned to take full control of the Presidential Villa, the Niger Barracks, the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) Complex, and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.


How the coup plan was foiled

PREMIUM TIMES reported that a covert intelligence operation coordinated by the Army Headquarters and the State Security Service (SSS) helped thwart the deadly plot to overthrow President Tinubu’s government.

Multiple senior administration insiders said the plot began to unravel in late September 2025 after an unnamed military officer with direct knowledge of the coup contacted the then Chief of Army Staff, Olufemi Oluyede.

The officer reportedly disclosed the scheme, saying he feared being implicated as an accessory to treason if he failed to alert authorities.

Our sources said around the same time, the SSS independently gathered intelligence indicating that some serving army officers were plotting to “destabilise the government and undermine Nigeria’s democracy.” An official familiar with the matter said the Director-General of the SSS, Oluwatosin Ajayi, personally briefed Mr Oluyede on the findings.

Faced with converging intelligence from multiple sources, the two security chiefs agreed to act swiftly. A wide-ranging but discreet joint operation was launched by the army and the SSS, with coordinated arrests planned across different parts of the country to neutralise the coup’s masterminds and other collaborators.

Following the initial arrests, President Tinubu was formally informed of the foiled plot. A visibly shaken president immediately ordered the cancellation of the 1 October National Independence Day parade. He also approved the constitution of a special investigative panel, which later led to additional arrests.

The investigative panel was led by an army general who is the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Emmanuel Undiandeye. One of the detained soldiers later escaped custody but was rearrested by SSS operatives in Bauchi, a military insider said. Meanwhile, a retired officer identified as General Adamu and former governor Sylva, accused of bankrolling the coup plotters, remain at large.

Mr Tinubu later fired and retired the then Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Musa, as well as the chiefs of the Navy and Air Force. Mr Oluyede was appointed CDS and promoted to the rank of General. Weeks later, Mr Musa returned to government as Minister of Defence.

In a statement issued on 4 October 2025, the Defence Headquarters said the arrested officers were being investigated for “indiscipline and breach of service regulations.” It added that preliminary findings suggested the officers’ grievances were linked to “career stagnation and failure in promotion examinations.”

In an 18 October statement, the Defence Headquarters described the probe involving the 16 arrested officers as a routine internal investigation aimed at maintaining discipline and professionalism within the armed forces.

However, on 26 January, the military publicly acknowledged for the first time that officers had indeed plotted to illegally overthrow President Tinubu’s administration. It announced that those indicted would be arraigned before a military judicial panel.

In its statement, the Defence Headquarters said the investigation has been completed and forwarded to “appropriate superior authority in line with extant regulations.”

According to the military, the investigation was “comprehensive” and conducted in line with established procedures, examining “all circumstances surrounding the conduct of the affected personnel.”

The military disclosed that the findings identified “several officers with allegations of plotting to overthrow the government,” describing such conduct as “inconsistent with the ethics, values and professional standards required of members of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.”

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/853041-exclusive-suspected-coup-plotters-planned-to-truncate-buharis-handing-over-to-tinubu.html

Why have people of South West refused to discuss this coup ?

Ezeama400:
Why have people of South West refused to discuss this coup ?

No reason and sense in doing naming ceremony for a still birth baby

Tinubu is unwanted by majority of Nigerians.

All lies to make tinubu look good but we are saw what happened in Turkey and it's best if tinubu bow out now...

Ezeama400:
Why have people of South West refused to discuss this coup ?

To discuss among themselves or with you?
You sound 'stupid

Abegi... Nigerian media, keep quiet!, they have turned journalism into click baiting, they sit down in their news room fabricating hearsays like one Onitsha screwdriver seller.

Premium Times will come with their own version, Sahara Reporters will come with their own, The Punch will come out with their own. Abeg rest!.

One version says they failed promotion exams and were therefore disgruntled, another version says they were displeased how their superiors were handling insecurity issues, while another version says it was purely political as a former Governor of a SS state was the mastermind and financier.

One version says they planned executing the coup on Armed forces remembrance day while another version says they wanted to carry it out on handing over day to stop Buhari handing over to the President.

How can any sensible individuals possibly take these lazy journalists and hire for pen journalism seriously?.

As long as they are aware the public are interested in a particular story, the media start milking it with their own styled fabrications.

TRASH!!!

So it isn't about misgovernance.

Wow

Make una Dey feed una propaganda to una despicable orchins

Mynd44:
So it isn't about misgovernance.

Wow

I was also waiting to read it was about misgovernance.

Why didn't they succeed? Chai

Why them wan truncate am, awa lókàn na! 🤷

Gajagojo:
To discuss among themselves or with you?
You sound 'stupid

Words of a coward of a human

Snake oil merchants at it again. Believe this, and you will believe anything.

Ezeama400:
Why have people of South West refused to discuss this coup ?

They're afraid of their masters.

Military coup can never work in Nigeria again. Those officers and their sponsors should get this fact into their heads

Mynd44:
So it isn't about misgovernance.

Wow

It took a while before we got to understand that most coups in the past were planned for selfish reasons. That's why some of us are not enthusiastic about any coup.

Freshandfitpod:
All lies to make tinubu look good but we are saw what happened in Turkey and it's best if tinubu bow out now...

Are you among them? Please consider your innocent family before u abide on the uncertain journey perhaps the journey of no return.
That is unsolicited advice

Gajagojo:
To discuss among themselves or with you?
You sound 'stupid

Well, if the officers were igbos, omo, yorubas would have been all over twitter, radio stations, tv, talking about it and how igbos are enemies of yorubas, bla bla, that was what he meant. Look at the magnitutude of such crime from one region and everywhere is quiet. Omo, if the identies were igbos eh, this country would have not rested with this news. Just elections o, yorubas took it personal and attacked igbos everywhere

Tinubu has set Nigeria back with outdated policies that was born in the '70s when the the notion of GLOBALIZATION was fomented. The scam is to cheapen and impoverish a nation, so that rich nations could swoop in, and control resources, minerals, employment and wealth. I sincerely hope it is only IGNORANCE that made Tinubu to adopt such outdated ideas of radical devaluation of currency, depreciation of the value of national asset and investments, and removal of subsidies which create inflation, hardship and misery. The policies that Tinubu imposed on Nigeria is for banana republics with limited resources, like St KItts, Jamaica, etc. Nigeria has massive diversity of natural resources and minerals, any one of which can elevate the economy. And we have the funds from oil and gas revenue to harness, develop and industrialize and export. We should be living like Saudi Arabia. We even have more resources than them. The people Tinubu is begging for investment, should, instead, be begging us! On top of everything, our population alone makes us a desired trade partner. Nigeria is so blessed, but our leaders refused to take advantage. Tinubu is either clueless or he is a heartless thief. After Tinubu, Nigeria will start again from scratch.

Princedapace:
Well, if the officers were igbos, omo, yorubas would have been all over twitter, radio stations, tv, talking about it and how igbos are enemies of yorubas, bla bla, that was what he meant. Look at the magnitutude of such crime from one region and everywhere is quiet. Omo, if the identies were igbos eh, this country would have not rested with this news. Just elections o, yorubas took it personal and attacked igbos everywhere

It is quiet.?

You don't know where to buy megaphone?

So maybe that Pastor really saw the vision where he said Tinubu was arrested at Eagle Square by soldiers and won't become President

Daguccizgreat:
Words of a coward of a human

What is

Win the war meat?

Can you explain

Ezeama400:
Why have people of South West refused to discuss this coup ?

No be by chochocho
Big dogs don't bark.

Unlike those crying for freedom every Monday.

Gajagojo:
It is quiet.?

You don't know where to buy megaphone?

Dey play. Just by standing agaisnt Tinubu during election o, igbos never rest. from twitter to facebook to radio, to tv, to properties demolision, to even openly making tribal statements by top yoruba politcians, pastors, celebrities, omo. Now, northerners dared yorubas, tried to elimiate their son, everywhere calm

AMINDA:
Snake oil merchants at it again. Believe this, and you will believe anything.

Aminu, You go cry pass Kwankwaso

That would have ended the country.

Thank God that coup failed. Otherwise, this country would have been in civil war now.