Informed politics analysts in this country and elsewhere would always be quick to dismiss any denial statement issued from any government house–be it state or federal. They would accept the disclaim as a farce and government’s clever suppression of the information with a view to shielding anxious citizens from details and undercurrents connected with the heart of the subject of public interest. This act is otherwise labelled as censorship.
A Public Affairs Analyst with a strong presence on social media and an appeal to a mass of followers, Mr Ayoade Ojeniyi once wrote: “Once the government denied something, the thing is true.”
This position was the fate of a military coup attempt said to have been unmasked in September 2025 with arrest of 16 officers but which Nigerian military authorities dismissed as an outright falsehood which, they emphasised, the populace should disregard to save themselves of associated apprehension.
This rebuttal notwithstanding, a critical section of public with a wide network of contacts refused to be persuaded. The Sahara Reporter, an online media, reputed for breaking into what could be called classified information, continued to put its ear on the ground in search of snippets and updates. However, the more the news outlet went, the more official denial followed, especially the release issued on October 18, 2025 by the Defence Headquarters, Abuja.
“The attention of the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has been drawn to a false and misleading report by an online publication insinuating that the cancellation of activities marking Nigeria’s 65th Independence Anniversary was linked to an alleged attempted military coup. The report also made spurious references to the recent DHQ press release announcing the arrest of sixteen officers currently under investigation for professional misconduct.
“The Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) wishes to categorically state that the claims by the said publication are entirely false, malicious, and intended to cause unnecessary tension and distrust among the populace. The decision regarding the cancellellation of 65th independence anniversary parade was to allow Mr President attend a strategic bilateral meeting outside the country and for members of the AFN to sustain the momentum on the fight against terrorism, insurgency and banditry,” the statement explained.
Three months after, what does the situation look like as Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, reportedly confirmed the failed coup and went further with details of the coup plotters’ script, revealing he would have been dead had the coup been successful?
While fielding questions on a Channels TV programme, the former Chief of Defence Staff before retirement, stressed that he was one of the targets for assasination by the coupists led by one Col. Muhammed Ma’aji who was said to have long been aggrieved against the authorities over what is called career stagnation and failure in promotion examination.
“I was supposed to be arrested, and if I refused, I was supposed to be shot,” Musa further revealed.
Other big masquarades on the death list, according to him, included President Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and others in top offices of the Tinubu admnistration.
Exuding confidence in Nigerians resolve and capacity to put up a resistance to attempt to cause the ongoing democracy a setback, Musa also revealed that unsuspecting Nigerians would have heard the martial music on May 29, 2023 of Tinubu’s inauguration at the Eagles Square, Abuja but cancelled due to certainty which surrounded its likely failure.
Now, the official confirmation has stated unambigously that about 40 suspects–army and civilians–are already in detention passing through an investigative panel for their roles and connection to the plot in line with Armed Forces Act.
But former Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr Timipre Sylva, alleged to have funded the coup, is on the run but currently under the state surveillance aimed at tracking him to also face the music.
It was learnt that after the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) had raided his Abuja residence in October 2025, the <span;>Interpol had been contacted in the search for the man who was Oil Minister in the admnistration of late President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Interpol was contacted immediately after the former governor was declared wanted. Apart from the EFCC, the service is also after him. He can’t hide forever. He should submit himself for investigation if he is indeed innocent.
“Nnamdi Kanu was out of the country for a while, thinking he was off the radar. But where is he today? We will also get Sylva,” said a DSS operative told The Punch.
Recovered from the detained suspects included two gun trucks, Anti Aircraft guns, PKT guns, RPG Bombs, AK 47 rifles, Ammo and tactical gears, four Hilux Trucks, A Toyota Prado SUV, two Toyota Salon Cars and 32 Volkswagen Golf Vehicles.
Already, distraught family members of the suspects are said to have pleaded with the authorities to temper justice with mercy with their loved ones in the net.
Like Minister of Defence had submitted, Head of Department, Mass Communication of the Dominion University, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Dr Adebayo Alade sneezed at the failed coup, saying it is out of fashion and an vehicle of retrogression.
Even though Alade did not exonerate the political class of misgovernment, he maintained that the nation requires stability so far achieved since the return to civilian rule on May 29, 1999, referencing the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s famous statement in favour of democratic rule against military incursion.
“Had it been Nigeria could be blessed with a “Jerry Rawlings” it could have been a different ball game but coups in the past in this nation had been a Russian roulete with the beneficiaries of the coup enjoying “their own time” instead of fixing the problems they claimed prompted their coming.
“No one can say for sure if those behind the latest coup could do better but that is left in the realm of conjecture now,” he noted.
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