The 13 charges include treason, terrorism, failure to inform security intelligence about the coup plot, money laundering and terrorism financing.
The federal government has filed charges against some alleged coup conspirators accused of plotting to wage a war against President Bola Tinubu to topple his government.
Also charged is Timipre Silva, a former Governor of Bayelsa who served as the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources during the late former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
The other defendants are Mohammed Ibrahim Gana, a retired major-general, Erasmus Ochegobia Victor, a retired navy captain, and Ahmed Ibrahim, a police inspector.
The rest are Zekeri Umoru, Bukar Kashim Goni and Abdulkadir Sani.
The 13 charges range from treason, terrorism, failure to disclose inform the security intelligence about the coup plot to money laundering and terrorism financing.
The charges signed by Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, for the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, alleged that the defendants “conspired with one another to levy war against the state to overawe the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
This charge was brought under Section 37(2) of the Criminal Code.
Another charge alleged that the defendants had prior knowledge of a planned treasonable act involving one Colonel Mohammed Alhassan Ma’aji and others but failed to alert the authorities.
It said the defendants “knowing that and was intended to commit treason, did not give the information thereof with all reasonable dispatch to either the President… or a Peace Officer.”
PREMIUM TIMES has extensively reported exclusively on the coup, which was initially denied by the Nigerian military, since the news filtered out last year.
Some serving military suspected to be the architect of the coup are not named in the charges just filed at the Federal High Court. It is not clear yet if they will be facing the General Court Martial overseen by the military instead.
In March, one of this newspaper’s series of report on the alleged coup plot 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 currently at large.
…. More details later
