If feelers reaching Clearview News Desk from Sahara Reporters, Newsweek, Emerald Nigeria among others are anything to go by, then, indeed, at least sixteen senior military officers have been detained by the Armed Forces of Nigeria for allegedly planning a coup d’etat to overthrow President Bola Tinubu.
While the Nigerian military in a statement few days ago claimed the detention of the officers was linked to “repeated failure in promotion examinations and perceived career stagnation”, top sources revealed that they were actually arrested over a coup plot.
However, a senior official of the Defence Intelligence Agency involved in the arrest told SaharaReporters that the officers led by an Army Brigadier General were planning to stage a coup and take over government from “selfish politicians”.
He said the coup attempt was thwarted after an intelligence gathering by the DIA and sister agencies.
According to our sources, those arrested are all officers within the rank of Captain to Brigadier-General and are still in detention at DIA at the time of this report. They were picked recently at their various houses around the country. Their main objective was to overthrow President Tinubu and announce a military government.”
Another source added that the October 1 Independence Day parade was cancelled because intelligence reports showed they planned the coup on October 1st during a military parade. So the National Security Adviser and other service chiefs according to the report asked the Tinubu-led government to cancel the parade earlier scheduled to mark the day.
Since Nigeria became independent in 1960, there have been five successful military coups.
Recently, there have been allegations of corruption in the military which some of the officers and soldiers have blamed for their loss of interest in the country’s military.
