An army officer on Wednesday testified before the Federal High Court in Abuja, detailing how investigators allegedly uncovered a plot to overthrow President Bola Tinubu and the financial and operational links between suspects.
The witness, who said he serves in the Nigerian Army Corps of Military Police, gave evidence in the trial of a retired major-general and five others facing charges of treason, terrorism, failure to disclose information and money laundering.
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They are being tried before Judge Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The officer, whose details including name were not given as part of a court-ordered witness protection measure, was codenamed AAA.
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He told the court that intelligence reports linked Mohammed Ma’aji, a colonel, to an alleged conspiracy involving some serving and retired military officers, as well as former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva.
AAA, who is the fourth prosecution witness, said the report, received by the then Chief of Army Staff, Olufemi Oluyede, now Chief of Defence Staff, pointed to coordination between Mr Maa’ji, Mr Sylva and other suspects standing trial.
According to him, the intelligence was assessed, found credible, and formed the basis for the investigation that led to Mr Ma’aji’s arrest and the recovery of electronic and documentary evidence allegedly linking the suspects to the plot.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the judge granted permission to the prosecution witness to testify under protective conditions. The judge gave the order after the prosecution said the measure was needed for security reasons as the trial progressed.
The measure includes allowing the prosecution witness to testify behind a shield that blocked him from being seen by the court audience. Also, the real name of the witness was not disclosed under the protective measure.
The federal government filed 13 counts of treason, terrorism, failure to disclose information and money laundering against a retired army general and five others over an alleged plot against President Bola Tinubu.
The defendants are Mohammed Ibrahim Gana, a retired major-general; Erasmus Ochegobia Victor, a retired navy captain; Ahmed Ibrahim, a police inspector; and Zekeri Umoru, an electrician at the Presidential Villa.
Others are Bukar Kashim Goni and Abdulkadir Sani, a Zaria-based Islamic cleric. They were arraigned on 22 April and all six pleaded not guilty when the charges were read in court.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, which marked the start of trial, prosecution lawyer Rotimi Oyedepo told the court that four witnesses were present and the prosecution was ready to proceed.
Three witnesses, drawn from Jaiz Bank, SunTrust Bank and Providus Bank, tendered letters obtained from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and their organisation responses to those letters. The letters were admitted in evidence and the witnesses responded to questions under cross-examination by defence lawyers.
When the fourth witness was called, Mr Oyedepo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), applied for protective measures. He prayed that the witness should be shielded to prevent “unnecessary attack” and protect the officer’s identity. He relied on Section 232 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA).
Lawyers to the defendants did not oppose witness protection. However, they insisted that the defence must still know the identity of the witness to ensure fair hearing.
The judge, however, granted the application and ordered that the witness’s identity be shielded. She further directed that the name must not appear in court records or proceedings accessible to parties or the public.
How the coup was plotted – Witness
Led in evidence by Mr Oyedepo, the fourth prosecution witness said he knew the defendants before the court. Mr Oyedepo called the six defendants one after the other and AAA responded with “I know him, my lord.”
He told the court that individuals mentioned during investigation included Colonel Maaji and that former serving and retired officers conspired to overthrow President Tinubu.
At this point, Muhammed Ndayako, a SAN, lawyer to the first defendant, Mr Gana, objected. He said the witness should frame his testimony as allegations by using “allegedly” to describe his findings and not say it as a fact that the defendants planned to overthrow the government, as the case has not been established.
Responding, the judge, Ms Abdulmalik, told the defence lawyer that he could address it in his written address or during cross-examination, so as not to waste the time of the court.
Continuing, the witness reiterated that the “then Chief of Army Staff, Olufemi Oluyede, now Chief of Defence Staff, received an intelligence report that Mr Ma’aji was planning with some officers and former governor of Bayelsa State, Mr Sylva, to overthrow the democratically elected government of President Bola Tinubu.”
He said: “Upon receipt of the intelligence report, the report was analysed, processed and found to be credible and Mr Oluyede gave the direction to our team to investigate the allegations.”
AAA said Mr Ma’aji was arrested and his phone, a Samsung Galaxy Z series, was recovered from him.
“We also proceeded to his residence, conducted a search and recovered a jotter. Inside the jotter, we found operational plans, names and designation of ranking members of the current regime as well as officers that were to assassinate them.”
“Also, inside the jotter, we found political and structural changes to be made upon execution of the coup,” AAA testified.
He said forensic analysis of the phone revealed alleged links between Mr Ma’aji, some officers and civilians standing trial before the court.
The witness also confirmed a forensic analysis document from the Nigerian Military Police.
Lawyers to the defendants objected to the tendering of the documents but opted to canvass arguments in their final addresses at the end of trial.
The documents, volumes three and four of the proof of evidence containing thousands of pages, were admitted in evidence and marked as exhibits P7 and P8 by the judge.
Financial trails
AAA also said they “found financial trails between Colonel Ma’aji and Mr Sylva and some of the defendants before this court.”
He said Purple Waves Limited was used as a conduit to sponsor the alleged coup plot. Exhibits P4 series, earlier tendered by one of the first three witnesses from SunTrust Bank were also shown to AAA.
The army officer said “the letter is what we used to discover the information, as well as the bank statement of Purple Waves and movement of funds from the company.”
He said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was part of the investigation and handled most of the financial transactions involved.
The witness told the court that several financial transactions were recorded between 19 September and 2 October 2025, involving multiple debit entries running into hundreds of millions of naira. He said the transfers included amounts of N100 million, N50 million, N80 million, N70 million and N90 million on different dates within the period.
According to him, the transactions carried different narrations but were allegedly traced to the funding of the coup plot under investigation.
Continuing, Mr Oyedepo asked the witness to speak on Counts 1 and 2 against the six defendants. Lawyers to the defendants objected, arguing that it amounted to suggesting answers to the witness, a style, they said, was not permitted under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.
They said how the charges relate to the evidence should be addressed by the prosecution in final written addresses and not through leading questions.
But Mr Oyedepo urged the court to discountenance the objection. He said the question was permissible under the law and cited judicial authority in support.
Meanwhile, the judge overruled the objections. She held that it is common for the prosecution to draw attention to charges during examination. She said cross-examination remains the key test of evidence.
Meetings in relation to the alleged coup
The Army officer also said several meetings were held to overthrow the government in different states.
He said some meetings took place at Green Land Apartment and Brookville Hotel, Abuja.
He said investigators visited the hotels, saw the rooms used for meetings, and recovered receipts of payments and reservations.
The receipts and hotel letters were tendered and admitted as Exhibit P9 after objection from lawyers to the defendants, who said they would respond at final addresses.
He said participants discussed regime change, identified government officials to be assassinated, and assigned officers to carry out the plan.
He said the current defendants took part in identifying targets and key locations to be attacked.
He also said the plotters shared appointments among themselves, including agencies to be set up and merged after execution of the alleged coup.
He said they carried out consultations, including spiritual divination, and received money for such operations.
He added that vehicles acquired by the suspects were later recovered from mechanic workshops where they were being prepared for the task.
AAA said the defendants made statements before a special investigation panel and before the military police.
He said the statements were recorded on video and made voluntarily.
He added that all defendants except one appeared before the panel. He said Abdulkadir Sani made his statement before the military police after the panel had been dissolved.
The prosecution then sought to tender the video recordings but lawyer to the first defendant objected after he asked his client in court whether he was aware of such recording and Mr Gana said no.
Also Paul Erokoro, who is a SAN and lawyer to the second defendant, objected, saying the document was not frontloaded.
Mr Oyedepo admitted that it had not been frontloaded when the judge asked.
Subsequently, the judge ordered the prosecution to do the needful and adjourned the case until 4 May for continuation of trial.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Ma’aji and 35 other military officers were arraigned on Friday on coup charges before the General Court Martial.
