Alleged Coup: Timipre Sylva's domestic workers, aides seek release from SSS custody

Detained domestic workers and aides to former Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva have urged the Federal High Court in Abuja to order their release from custody, where they have been detained for about six months over coup plot allegations levelled against their principal.

The five detainees, through their lawyers, called on the judge, Hauwa Yilwa, to order their unconditional release from custody.

Alternatively, they urged the court to release them on bail or order the authorities to charge them before a court of competent jurisdiction to face trial.

Judge Yilwa, after listening to the lawyers for the parties on Tuesday, fixed 23 April for ruling.

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The State Security Service (SSS) arrested them in Abuja in October last year over coup allegations involving Mr Sylva, who himself has yet to be found by the government.

The security agency obtained the court’s order on 17 November 2025 to detain them for 60 days.

SSS obtained the order after informing the court that they were being investigated for treason and treasonable felony – allegations levelled against people suspected of being involved in or supporting an insurrection against the government.

The five detainees are Friday Paul, Musa Mohammed, Ayuba Ruben, Ayebaife Suobite and Anagha Pagannengigha.

They argued that the remand order, which the court directed should last for 60 days, has since expired.

“The continued custody of the 5th respondent/applicant after the expiration of the remand order is unlawful and constitutes a violation of his constitutionally guaranteed right to personal liberty,” lawyer to Anagha Pagannengigha, one of the detainees, wrote in a filing applying for a release order.

“The applicant/respondent (SSS) has neither arraigned the 5th respondent/applicant before a court of competent jurisdiction nor obtained any further order extending the remand.”

But Mr Pagannengigha’s wife, Preye Pagannengigha, said in a supporting affidavit that SSS operatives arrested him and others on 25 October 2025 at Mr Sylva’s house in Maitama, Abuja. The motion was filed on 23 February.

Mrs Pagannengigha, who described her husband as “a domestic staff member” to Mr Sylva, said, “When Chief Timipre Sylva was not found at the residence, the operatives arrested three aide and domestic workers including my husband.”

Mr Sylva, alleged to be a major financier of the failed coup, has yet to be arrested.

In October last year, after security operatives raided his house in Abuja, Mr Sylva denied involvement in the alleged coup in a statement.

He said he and his wife, Alanyingi, had been in the United Kingdom for a routine medical check-up and would proceed to Malaysia for a professional conference.

He is not known to have returned to the country since then.

The alleged failed coup

PREMIUM TIMES has extensively reported on the alleged unsuccessful coup plot against President Bola Tinubu’s government.

One of this newspaper’s reports in March detailed an elaborate plot by suspected coup conspirators to storm Nigeria’s seat of power, seize the Presidential Villa, and capture President Bola Tinubu and other top officials

The suspects allegedly planned to overrun the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Nigeria’s most fortified political stronghold, and capture President Tinubu, along with Vice President Kashim Shettima.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio and House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas were also to be captured and possibly eliminated.

The alleged conspiracy involved at least 40 suspects, including senior officers such as Brigadier General M.A. Sadiq, and Colonel M.A. Ma’aji, as well as several lieutenant colonels drawn from signals, infantry, and special forces units.

Other named officers include Lieutenant Colonels A.A. Hayatu, P. Dangnap, M. Almakura, and S.M. Gana, as well asMajors and Captains embedded across various units.

Investigators say the network also included civilians positioned for support roles. Among them were Umoru Zekeri, identified as an electrician within the Presidential Villa; Ali Isah, an ambulance driver; and Nollywood actor Stanley Kingsley Amandi, allegedly recruited to coordinate propaganda efforts during the operation.

Mr Sylva and a retired major general have been named in connection with the network and are said to be currently at large.

Tuesday’s proceedings

On Tuesday, Judge Yilwa heard Michael Numa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who represented two of Mr Sylva’s aides, Musa Muhammed and Anagha Pagannenghigha.

Mr Numa reminded the judge of the motion he filed on behalf of Mr Pagannenghigha on 28 February seeking an order for his release.

He said he was served “this morning with a counter-affidavit in reaction to the motion on notice.”

Nevertheless, he expressed readiness to proceed with the hearing.

Moving the motion, which hinged on 16 grounds, Mr Numa, who also cited a 20-paragraph supporting affidavit, urged the court to grant the application for an “immediate and unconditional release of the applicant in the interest of justice.”

He argued that the interim order granted pursuant to an Act of the National Assembly, the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, “allows detention for investigation not exceeding 60 days.”

He said the respondents had abused the court’s orders and the administration of justice.

He said it is lawful for the respondents to continue to hold the applicants in custody.

He cited judicial precedents to support his argument, adding that the applicants had been in custody of the State Security Service (SSS) for about 171 days “under the guise of investigation”.

He said no one had access to the suspects in detention.

“We do not even know whether they are alive or dead,” he said.

He urged the court to allow the families access to them, adding that the court remained the last hope of the common man.

The lawyer to the rest of the detainees – A. E. Imadegbelo, Esq, Queen Jim-Ogbolo, Esq and O. O. Osusu, Esq did not file any motion, but took turns to aligned with Mr Numa’s submissions and urged the court to release their clients.

SSS’ objection

Responding, SSS counsel, Y. I Umar, urged the court to dismiss the application, citing a 27- paragraph affidavit with exhibits and a written address he had filed to oppose the motion.

The counter-affidavit obtained by PREMIUM TIMES shed more light on the agency’s stance on the case. The secret police organisation only filed a written response to Mr Pagannenghigha, being the only one whose application was in written form.

READ ALSO: Alleged Coup: Families of detained officers demand open trial, presidential mercy

The court document sworn by Musa Usman of the Legal Department of the SSS, the agency described the applicant’s claims as “baseless, unfounded and distorting the facts of this case.”

The SSS maintained that Mr Pagannenghigha is under investigation for alleged treason and treasonable felony, insisting that surveillance had revealed “his active participation in the crime under investigation.”

On the issue of bail, the agency warned that releasing him would be “premature” and could “forestall the said investigation of national security concern which poses a potent threat to democratic governance.”

It further denied allegations of mistreatment, stating: “The Respondent has a culture of treating persons under investigation humanely, and the case of the Applicant is not different.”

The counter‑affidavit rejected the applicant’s argument that his detention was unlawful following the expiration of a 60‑day remand order. Instead, the SSS argued that the detention was “lawfully obtained in line with the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022.”

The filing was silent on whether the remand order was renewed after the 60 days lifespan the court gave it lapsed.

But it said the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja refused Mr Pagannenghigha’s separate application for release from “unlawful detention”.

It stated that the FCT High Court judge, Babangida Hassan, refused to grant the application to release the detainee but awarded damages in his favour.

Mr Usman, who swore the counter-affidavit, said SSS subsequently filed an appeal against the ruling and an application for stay of execution.

It described the new application as “utterly vexatious, frivolous, baseless, mendacious and a carefully thought out plan by the applicant to mislead this honourable court.”

The judge adjourned the case until 23 April for ruling.