At least sixteen Nigerian military officers are being secretly held by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) in connection with an alleged coup plot currently under investigation by the Bola Tinubu-led government and the military authorities.
Multiple military sources and family members confirmed that the officers have been detained for over three weeks in an undisclosed location in Abuja under what they described as suspicious and highly unusual conditions.
Family members of some of the detained officers expressed deep concern, saying they initially believed their relatives had been kidnapped, as no official communication was provided by the military regarding the arrests or the whereabouts of those being held. One family member said, “It’s been 18 days since those 16 officers were detained in an undisclosed location. At first, we thought our brother was kidnapped before finding out what transpired from his friend who works in the NSA office. No official explanation from the military till date. None of the families has been allowed to visit or even call them. Everyone is scared about their present condition.”
The Defence Intelligence Agency, which operates under the Ministry of Defence, is primarily tasked with intelligence gathering and counter-espionage. Its decision to hold the officers, rather than hand them over to their respective service authorities, has raised questions about due process and legality. A former military officer and security expert who served for nine years stated that the DIA appeared to be exceeding its mandate.
“In the military, if an army officer offends, he is to be charged by the Nigerian Army directly wherever his or her unit is, because the dossier is with the Army. The same applies to the Navy and Air Force. We want to know when the DIA started handling cases of indiscipline. When did it become a military court?” he said.
He further argued that if the military were genuinely conducting a disciplinary review, the number of cases should be far higher. “If it’s truly a disciplinary sweep, over 10,000 cases of alleged misconduct could easily surface. Our suspicion is that this current detention of the officers is politically motivated. Why only 16 officers? Why pick from all three services and then hand them over to the DIA? This doesn’t follow standard military procedure,” he added.
The expert also criticised what he described as poor public communication by the Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Tukur Gusau, calling his responses to journalists “evasive and unconvincing.” He noted that journalists should have pressed for clearer answers about the officers’ detention, saying, “Only two questions about why the officers are with the DIA and why they are being denied access to family members would have been good for Brigadier General Gusau.”
Reports of the alleged coup plot were first made public over the weekend, with claims that the detained officers are attached to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). The office is currently headed by Nuhu Ribadu, a retired police officer and lawyer serving as National Security Adviser to President Tinubu.
While the military has maintained that the officers are being investigated over repeated failures in promotion examinations and perceived career stagnation, multiple sources insist the arrests are tied to a suspected coup plot, heightening tension within the armed forces and prompting calls for transparency and adherence to lawful military procedure.
