The federal government plans to put seven of the detained suspects on trial for hiding treason, terrorism, and money laundering in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the President Bola Tinubu-led government.
The people who are being looked at include Timpre Sylva, a former governor of Bayelsa State; Major General Mohammed Ibrahim Gana (rtd); Erasmus Ochegobia Victor, a retired Navy Captain; and Inspector Ahmed Ibrahim. There are also Zekeri Umoru, Bukar Kashim Goni, and Abdulkadir Sani.
The Daily Trust says that they were charged with 13 counts yesterday.
It was reported that six of the people who were accused of plotting a coup and were being looked into by both the Nigerian military and the Department of State Services were said to have terrorized the people and planned to overthrow a democratic government.
The crimes they are charged with are almost treasonable felonies, such as plotting to overthrow the government, terrorism, and other crimes that threaten security.
On October 4, 2025, the military high command, through its former Director of Defense Information, Tukur Gusau, said that 16 officers had been arrested and held for crimes that were not made public.
Gusau, a retired Brigadier-General, said that they were arrested and held for things that having to do with “indiscipline and breach of service regulations.”
The former senior military commander further added, “Investigations have shown that their complaints were mostly about feeling like their careers were stuck because they kept failing promotion exams, among other things.”
But a few weeks after the denial, rumors came out that the people who were arrested were supposedly part of a plot to topple the administration led by Tinubu.
It was also found that the people who were arrested were connected to Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser.
Charged suspects after six months
The procedure to arraign seven of the detainees, who are already charged in a Federal High Court in Abuja, has begun, despite protests from their families.
On Wednesday, April 1, the families of the arrested officers demonstrated at the National Assembly, calling for justice. The demonstrators, who were children, wives, and family members of the detainees, wanted the accused officials to be tried quickly.
Nana, the wife of one of the detainees, said they were asking for a fair trial.
“We are here to ask the authorities to kindly take our spouses to court. We don’t think they should just be let go like that. Action that has to be taken should be taken. But the government says it has proof against them, so they should go to court. This is because they are not guilty until proven guilty. “Please let there be an open and free trial if there is any evidence,” she urged.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), filed the lawsuit on behalf of the federal government. The seventh individual, former Governor Sylva, is alleged to be on the run. He is being tried without being there.
Last night, sources told our reporter that the government had called in the International Police (INTERPOL) to find the former Bayelsa governor and bring him back to Nigeria to face the full force of the law.
The charges say that you, Major General Mohammed Ibrahim Gana (rtd), Captain (NN) Erasmus Ochegobia Victor (rtd), Inspector Ahmed Ibrahim (Ap776373), Zekeri Umoru, Bukar Kashim Goni, Abdulkadir Sani, Timpre Sylva (still at large), and others agreed to wage war against the state in 2025 in Abuja, which is within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court. This is a crime under Section 37(2) of the code cap 38 LFN 2004.
“That you, Major General Mohammed Ibrahim Gana (Rtd), Captain (NN) Erasmus Ochegobia Victor (rtd), Inspector Ahmed Ibrahim (Ap776373), Zekeri Umoru, Bukar Kashim Goni, Abdulkadir Sani, Timpre Sylva (still at large) and others, sometime in the year 2025, in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, knowing that Colonel Mohammed Alhassan Ma’aji (N/10668) and others intended to commit treason, did not give the information thereof with all reasonable dispatch to either the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, or a Peace Officer and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 40(b) of the Criminal Code Cap C38 LFN 2004”.
That you, Major General Mohammed Ibrahim Gana (rtd), Captain (NN) Erasmus Ochegobia Victor (rtd), Inspector Ahmed Ibrahim (Ap776373), Zekeri Umoru, Bukar Kashim Goni Abdulkadir Sani, Timipre Sylva (still at large), and others, sometime in the year 2025 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this honorable court conspired with one another to commit an act of terrorism against Federal Republic of Nigeria and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
You, Abdulkadir Sani, on or around the 23rd of September, 2025, in Abuja, which is in the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, indirectly kept the sum of N2,000,000.00 (Two Million Naira) only in your Jaiz Bank Account Number 0005620270 from A & A Express Link Concept. You should have known that this money was part of the proceeds of an unlawful act, specifically terrorism financing, and you broke Section 18(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, which is punishable under Section 18 (3) of the same Act.
That you, Bukar Kashim Goni, in September 2025, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, indirectly kept the total amount of N50,000,000.00 (Fifty Million Naira) only in your First Bank Account Number 3021511166 from A & A Express Link Concept, which you should have known was part of the proceeds of an unlawful act to wit: terrorism financing, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the same Act.
Officials said that additional detainees have not yet been charged.
Officials from the DSS and the military informed Daily Trust that joint investigations are still going on, which explains why some of the prisoners are still in custody.
They said they still don’t know what happened with the other detainees and that they would also be charged when the investigation is over.
“Investigations by both sides are still going on. We can’t just charge the people we haven’t completed looking into yet. An official from the DSS said, “We have finished looking into those seven people we charged.”
The source claimed he couldn’t say when the investigations would end since the issue was too complicated.
He went on to say, “This is a matter that is close to national security, so full investigations must be done.” It is very important for the investigators to take their time.
Names of people who were charged
Sylva, who has the title of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON), was born on July 7, 1964, in Brass, Bayelsa State (which used to be Rivers State until 1996). He went to school in Bayelsa and Lagos, which used to be Nigeria’s capital.
He is a leader in the All Progressives Congress and graduated from the University of Port Harcourt in 1986. In the early 1990s, he was a member of the Old Rivers State House of Assembly. In 2007, he became governor of Bayelsa State.
In May 2008, he won a new election for governor of the state after an appeal court threw out his previous win. The Supreme Court, however, ended his term in January 2012 and appointed an interim governor to run the state until another election could be held in February 2012.
From 2019 to 2023, Sylva was Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said in November 2025 that he was wanted for money laundering.
Major-General Gana, who is now retired, hails from Niger State. He has the traditional title of Danmagayaki of Nupe. Daily Trust learned that his son is now a Colonel in the military and is being held because he is thought to have been involved in the conspiracy.
Inspector Ahmed Ibrahim, who was arrested in connection with the purported coup plot, is also a police officer in Nigeria from Taraba State.
“Suspects deserve a fair hearing”
Mr. Malachy Ugwummadu, a human rights activist and former National Chairman of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR), told one of our reporters that the federal government must take into account the rights of individuals who are prosecuted.
He said, “The charges of treason or treasonable felony, including conspiracy to commit the same crime, are very serious.” You can do that with the punishment given to such types of crimes; in other words, they are capital punishment. That will show how serious the crime is.
“However, it is gratifying that the country has not resorted to extrajudicial activities such as murder.” The country has opted to put the suspects’ alleged crimes to the test of trials, which means they must be given a fair hearing, especially.
“In order to determine the rights of every Nigerian, whether they are accused of a crime or not, they must be given a fair hearing by a competent court of law that is set up in a way that guarantees its independence and fairness.
That’s what Sections 36 and 46 are all about. So, if the government has opted to help these people, knowing that their presumption of innocence still works in their favor, it’s the correct thing to do in a civilized society.
Jibrin S. Jibrin Esq., a notary public and former chairman of the NBA in Bauchi State, declared that the coup suspects’ arraignment in the Federal High Court is not against the law.
“One reason I think this is true is that the crimes they are accused of go beyond just disobeying military orders. It has to do with an effort to reform and bring down the country’s legal system of government.
Another reason why the Federal High Court is the best place to try the people who are accused of plotting a coup is that the laws that were used to try them under the General Babangida and Sani Abacha juntas have been canceled or repealed by the 1999 Constitution, which is the current grundnorm.
“So, given the facts and the kinds of accusations made, I think the federal government was right to bring the charges against the suspects in the Federal High Court.”
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