The Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (retd.), has revealed that he was one of the key targets in the alleged coup plot uncovered by the military, disclosing that the plan was to arrest him and shoot him if he resisted.
Musa made the disclosure on Sunday while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, days after the Armed Forces announced that 16 officers arrested in October 2025 would be tried over an alleged attempt to overthrow President Bola Tinubu’s government.
The former Chief of Defence Staff said intelligence reports showed that his name was listed among those to be neutralised by the plotters.
“I was also a target. I was supposed to be arrested, and if I refused, I was supposed to be shot,” he said.
Describing the alleged coup plotters as unserious and ill-prepared, Musa said they grossly underestimated both the Armed Forces and the Nigerian people.
“Anybody who goes into a coup has already zeroed his mind. You succeed, good; you don’t succeed, you are ready to face the consequences. But these individuals clearly didn’t understand what they were getting into,” he stated.
According to him, even without the intervention of the military, Nigerians would have resisted any attempt to seize power through unconstitutional means, recalling the country’s long struggle against military rule.
“If you look at the calibre of those involved, I don’t know what got into their heads to think they could take on the Armed Forces. Nigerians themselves would have stood against them,” Musa added.
The military had earlier announced the arrest of 16 officers for acts of indiscipline and breaches of service regulations.
However, further investigations later linked some of them to allegations of plotting to overthrow the government.
In a statement issued last week, the Director of Defence Information, Major General Samaila Uba, said officers found to have cases to answer would be arraigned before a military judicial panel in accordance with the Armed Forces Act and other relevant regulations.
Uba noted that the process was aimed at ensuring accountability while upholding fairness and due process.
