Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, has revealed that officers behind the recently uncovered coup plot had planned to shoot him if he resisted arrest, describing himself as a prime target of the failed putsch.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Sunday, Musa said the plotters had marked him for arrest and possible assassination because of his strategic position at the time as Chief of Defence Staff.
“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 disclosed.
According to him, the masterminds of the plot were fully aware of the grave consequences of their actions, yet proceeded regardless. He dismissed the alleged coup plotters as “unserious individuals,” questioning their judgment and capacity to challenge the Nigerian Armed Forces.
“Anybody who goes into a coup… because you succeed, good; you don’t succeed, whatever the consequences come, you are ready for it,” he said.
“But again, these guys were just a bunch of very unserious individuals. If you look at the calibre of persons, I don’t know what got into their heads that they could take on the Armed Forces like that. Even Nigerians would have fought them.”
The revelations come amid lingering public interest in the October 2025 cancellation of Nigeria’s 65th Independence Anniversary parade, which had sparked widespread speculation about an attempted coup.
While reports at the time linked the cancellation to a looming military takeover, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) firmly denied any connection, insisting that the decision was unrelated to security threats. The DHQ also clarified that the arrest of 16 military officers reported around the same period had no links to any coup attempt.
However, on October 31, 2025, TheCable reported that 16 officers had indeed been arrested in the first week of October over an alleged coup plot, with two others reportedly on the run.
The matter was finally put to rest on January 26, when the DHQ officially confirmed that there was a genuine plot to overthrow President Bola Tinubu.
According to the military, the plot was uncovered in late September 2025 through joint intelligence operations involving the Nigerian Army, the Department of State Services (DSS), and the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).
The alleged plan reportedly included the assassination of President Tinubu, Vice-President Kashim Shettima, and other top government officials, alongside the arrest of senior military commanders.
