There is tension has military submitted the report of its investigation into what it described as “indiscipline and breach of service regulations” by the 16 detained officers, who were allegedly linked to a coup plot against President Bola Tinubu.
As reported on Monday, January 26, by Daily Trust, the report was submitted to the incumbent Nigerian leader.
The presidency and security sources disclosed that the report was tendered to the president after grilling and investigations carried out by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).
recalls that the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) in Nigeria detained the 16 suspects in 2025.
The arrests were officially announced on October 4, 2025, and on October 18, the military issued a fresh statement insisting the case is purely disciplinary.
However, multiple military sources insist the officers are being held over a failed coup plot. Speculation intensified after the cancellation of the October 1 Independence Day parade, only the second such cancellation since the return to democracy in 1999, after 2010’s Abuja bombings.
The 2025 ceremony was scaled down and moved to the presidential villa, a decision that many observers read as a sign of heightened security concerns.
The alleged plot surfaces as parts of Africa see renewed military intervention in politics. Since 2020, countries like Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Guinea-Bissau have fallen under juntas and have quit the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a blow to a bloc Nigeria helped shape, including under President Tinubu’s recent chairmanship.
In its report, Daily Trust cited “a source privy to the investigation” in Nigeria as saying the report had been submitted to President Tinubu. According to him, a decision by the president on the report “will allow further actions.”
The source shared: “Those who were tasked to investigate the involvement of the officers have concluded their job, and they have submitted the report to the president, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.”
In the same vein, the newspaper stated that “a highly placed source at the Presidential Villa” informed the Nigerian president that the coup attempt was real.
The source said: “They (military authorities) briefed Mr President that it (the attempt to stage a coup) was real. The report clearly showed that there was an attempt by the detained officers to do what the media reported they planned to do.
“The Brigadier-General among them was picked because it was discovered that he was aware of the plot but did not report it.”
