The Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), has revealed that he was one of the main targets of the recently foiled coup plot against President Bola Tinubu, saying the conspirators planned to arrest him or shoot him if he resisted.
Musa made the disclosure on Sunday while speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, where he described those behind the plot as “a bunch of very unserious individuals.”
According to the former Chief of Defence Staff, he played a key role in helping security agencies prevent the plot from materialising and was personally marked out by the plotters.
“I was also a target, I am sure you know. I was supposed to be arrested, and if I refused, I was supposed to be shot,” Musa said.
“But that’s the job. Anybody who goes into coup zeroes his mind because he knows if he succeeds, good. If he doesn’t succeed, whatever consequences come, you are ready for it.”
The Defence Minister dismissed any suggestion that the suspects had the capacity to overthrow the Nigerian government, saying they clearly misunderstood Nigeria’s democratic evolution and the strength of its armed forces.
“These guys were just a bunch of very unserious individuals. If you look at the calibre of the people involved, I really don’t know what got into their heads to think they could take on the armed forces like that,” he said.
Musa added that even without military intervention, Nigerians themselves would have resisted any attempt to overthrow a democratically elected government.
“Even Nigerians would have fought them. Nigerians fought against military rule for years. So for anyone to think they could just wake up one morning and do this in Nigeria, something is really wrong somewhere. They need to reset their brains,” he said.
Speaking on arrests made so far, Musa disclosed that most of those involved in the plot had been apprehended, with only one or two suspects possibly still at large.
“So far, most of them have been caught. If there’s anyone left, maybe one or two. It all started from a colonel who felt disgruntled because he was not promoted. He didn’t meet the requirements,” he explained.
According to him, the alleged mastermind was driven by personal grievances, stressing that promotions in the armed forces are strictly merit-based.
“The armed forces are very strict about promotions. He didn’t make it, and instead of accepting that, he went around looking for others who had one issue or another to bring into his plan,” Musa said.
He expressed concern for junior officers allegedly drawn into the plot, saying many of them did not fully understand what they were getting into.
“My pain is for the young officers he dragged into this mess. Now they have to face the consequences. Everything revolves around him as an individual, and he was just a colonel. I can’t even imagine a colonel thinking of doing such a thing,” he added.
Musa stressed that carrying out a coup in present-day Nigeria was virtually impossible, unlike in the past.
“That was Nigeria of yesteryears. It’s impossible now,” he said, noting that security agencies act only on verified intelligence that can stand in court.
He explained that investigations into the plot were thorough and involved multiple intelligence agencies, including the Defence Intelligence Agency, the National Intelligence Agency and the Department of State Services, to ensure innocent officers were not wrongly implicated.
“We didn’t want any innocent person to be indicted, so it was a holistic investigation,” he said.
The minister also dismissed claims that the plot was driven by dissatisfaction with the Tinubu administration, insisting that it was conceived even before the President’s inauguration.
“These plans were already in motion before the president took office, because they already knew who won the election,” he said, describing the situation as unfortunate.
Musa noted that past coups in Nigeria only succeeded with the support of senior military commanders, a factor completely absent in this case.
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“In the past, coups involved the big boys — GOCs and service chiefs. You don’t have any of that here. These are low-ranking individuals with no access to critical structures,” he said.
“For anyone to want to truncate democracy in Nigeria today, there’s something seriously wrong with them.”
His comments came amid ongoing investigations into the alleged coup plot, which have also drawn attention to former Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva, who may be arraigned in absentia over separate financial crime allegations.
While the Defence Headquarters initially denied reports of a coup attempt in October 2025, the military later confirmed that investigations had uncovered a plot to overthrow Tinubu’s administration, with several officers now facing charges.
