By Duchess Ifeoluwa 

The Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), has revealed that he was one of the prime targets of the recently foiled coup plot against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, disclosing that the conspirators planned to arrest him or shoot him if he resisted.

Musa made the disclosure on Sunday while featuring as a guest on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, describing those behind the plot as “a bunch of very unserious individuals.”

The former Chief of Defence Staff said he played a critical role in assisting security agencies to frustrate the plot, adding that intelligence available to authorities showed he was personally marked for arrest.

“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.

According to him, involvement in a coup always comes with grave consequences, stressing that those who attempt to overthrow a government are fully aware of the risks involved.

“But that’s the job. Anybody who goes into a coup zeroes his mind. If he succeeds, good. If he doesn’t, whatever consequences come, he is ready for it,” he said.

Musa dismissed the capacity of the suspects to successfully challenge the Nigerian state, noting that their actions betrayed a poor understanding of Nigeria’s democratic evolution and the strength of its armed forces.

“I really don’t know what got into their heads to think they could take on the armed forces like that,” he said, adding that even ordinary Nigerians would have resisted any attempt to topple a democratically elected government.

“Even without the armed forces, Nigerians would have stood against them. Remember how Nigerians fought against military rule for quite some time,” he said.

The Defence Minister disclosed that most of the suspects involved in the plot had been arrested, with only “one or two” possibly still at large.

He identified the alleged mastermind as a disgruntled colonel who failed to secure promotion due to not meeting required benchmarks.

“He didn’t meet the marks to be promoted. So what he decided to do was probably go around, looking for other people who had one issue or the other,” Musa said, noting that the armed forces operate a strict, merit-based promotion system.

Expressing concern for junior officers allegedly drawn into the plot, the minister lamented that many of them did not fully understand the gravity of what they were involved in.

“My pain is for those young officers who didn’t understand what was going on. Now they have to face the consequences,” he said.

Musa stressed that staging a coup in modern-day Nigeria was virtually impossible, unlike in the past, noting that successful coups historically required the backing of top military commanders, a factor completely absent in this case.

Investigations into the plot, he said, were thorough and collaborative, involving the Defence Intelligence Agency, National Intelligence Agency, Department of State Services, and other security bodies to ensure no innocent officer was indicted.

“These things were planned even before the president took office,” Musa added, describing the development as unfortunate and misguided.

His comments came amid reports that former Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva, may be arraigned in absentia over alleged financial crimes, as investigations into the coup plot continue.

Sylva, who has reportedly remained outside the country for months, is also said to be wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over alleged multi-million-dollar fraud.

Although the Defence Headquarters initially dismissed reports of a coup attempt in October 2025, the military later confirmed that investigations uncovered a plot to overthrow President Tinubu’s administration, with several officers now facing charges.