Colonel Says Failed Promotion Fuelled Alleged Tinubu Coup Plot

A failed promotion, a carefully staged invitation, and a colonel’s alleged descent into conspiracy have turned Nigeria’s latest coup case into something bigger than a courtroom drama. What began as a grievance over rank may now define one of the Tinubu era’s most unsettling security scandals.

Atlantic Post

July 31, 2026

3–5 minutes

Defence Headquarters, military court martial, Mohammed Ma’aji, Nigeria Coup Plot, Nigerian Army, Tinubu Administration

Colonel Mohammed Ma’aji, the man now being cast as a central figure in Nigeria’s alleged 2025 coup conspiracy, has given investigators a troubling explanation for what he says drove him into the plot: repeated denial of promotion, worsening insecurity, and what he described as the neglect of serving and retired soldiers.

Fresh documents obtained by Premium Times indicate that the officer’s frustration deepened after he twice failed to move from colonel to brigadier general, turning personal grievance into a national security crisis.

According to the documents, Ma’aji told investigators that he began canvassing support for a military takeover in 2023, near the end of the Buhari era, after he was invited to the Defence Intelligence Agency over an allegation that politicians wanted to use him to disrupt the 2023 general elections.

He said his phone was seized for forensic screening and that he was later released after officials found no proof. In his own words, he claimed: “I was released with a verbal apology because there was no evidence.”

The colonel said the matter did not end there. After he missed promotion again in 2024, he claimed some of his junior officers revived the pressure to push ahead with the alleged movement. He described the growing frustration inside the ranks as a mixture of stalled careers, insecurity and failing welfare.

In the same interrogation trail, he said, “When I missed my second attempt at promotion to brigadier general in 2024, some of the boys started disturbing and calling on me that we needed to revive the movement again.”

Ma’aji’s account of how he was arrested reads like a counter-intelligence sting. He said he received a call from the Chief of Staff to the then Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Olufemi Oluyede, asking him to report to House 12 at Niger Barracks.

Moments later, he claimed, Oluyede personally called again, pressing him to come quickly because his promotion issue was being discussed. Believing the invitation was genuine, he said he drove to the barracks “with very high morale”.

He also said the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Lt Gen Emmanuel Undiandeye, later instructed him to accompany him to DIA headquarters, where he was confronted over the alleged plot.

That, investigators say, was the moment the case moved from rumour to full-blown national alarm. Premium Times reports that by the time Ma’aji was taken in on 29 September 2025, operational planning, fundraising, weapons mobilisation and logistics had already been mapped out.

The paper also says the conspiracy had reached beyond the barracks, involving soldiers, retired officers, civilians, a police inspector and even a Presidential Villa worker allegedly used to carry out reconnaissance inside the seat of power.

The Defence Headquarters initially tried to play down the uproar. In October 2025, it rejected reports tying the cancellation of Nigeria’s 65th Independence Day parade to a coup scare, insisting the decision was made because President Bola Tinubu had a strategic bilateral engagement abroad and because the armed forces needed to sustain operations against terrorism, insurgency and banditry.

The DHQ described the claims as “entirely false, malicious” and said the 16 officers under investigation were facing a “routine internal process” for discipline and professionalism.

But the official line changed. By January 2026, Premium Times reported that the Defence Headquarters had confirmed that some officers were being investigated for plotting to overthrow the government and that they would face military judicial panels.

Reuters and AP later reported that, in April 2026, the federal government filed 13 criminal charges against six former security officials, including a retired major-general, on allegations of treason, terrorism and terrorism financing. One other suspect, former Bayelsa governor Timipre Sylva, was said to be at large.

The latest Premium Times revelations deepen the political and military implications. In July 2026, the newspaper said 36 serving military officers were facing a General Court Martial in Abuja, while six other alleged conspirators were standing trial before the Federal High Court in Abuja.

It also reported that the prosecution and defence were already fighting over the admissibility of statements and video evidence. That means the case is no longer just about a frustrated officer or a rumoured plot; it is now an institutional test of how Nigeria handles dissent, discipline and suspected subversion inside its armed forces.

And that is where Ma’aji’s claims become politically explosive. If his account is accurate, then this was not merely a coup fantasy born in the shadows; it was a crisis of morale, promotion bottlenecks and collapsing confidence in the military hierarchy.

He told investigators that officers and soldiers were grappling with “economic hardship, poor welfare, inadequate housing and declining morale”, and urged the authorities to create safe internal channels for grievances.

Whether the courts accept that explanation or not, the episode has already exposed a dangerous truth: a restless barracks can become a national security threat long before the first shot is fired.