The Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, has dismissed concerns over any planned military takeover in Nigeria, insisting that attempts to stage a coup would fail.
He made the remarks during an interview on Arise Television on Friday, May 29, where he also criticised military personnel facing prosecution over an alleged coup plot, describing them as confused individuals who misled junior officers.
The alleged coup matter first drew public attention in October 2025 when the Federal Government cancelled the country’s 65th Independence Day parade scheduled for October 1, fuelling speculation about security concerns.
By January 2026, the Defence Headquarters confirmed that an attempted coup had been uncovered against the administration of President Bola Tinubu, with serving officers, police personnel and civilians now standing trial over their alleged involvement.
Musa, who was Chief of Defence Staff at the time the plot was reportedly uncovered, said he was part of the team that identified and investigated those involved.
He added that the accused are currently being given fair opportunity to defend themselves through due process.
According to him, the episode is also being used to reinforce democratic values within the armed forces and discourage unconstitutional ambitions.
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“What we are trying to do now is to show the junior ones that coup doesn’t pay anything. Democracy is far better than any military regime, and so this is an opportunity,” he said.
The minister expressed disappointment over those allegedly involved in the plot, accusing them of drawing younger personnel into a dangerous situation.
“I just looked at the people that were involved, and I shook my head because they are just a bunch of confused individuals that exposed junior officers that didn’t know their left from their right and put them into this mess,” he said.
He insisted there was no justification for their actions, arguing that conditions within the armed forces had improved significantly.
“It’s quite unfortunate what they did, they had no reason to do that, the country was going very well, the armed forces are being taken care of quite very well.
“We’ve never had issues with our salaries, efforts have been made to even increase our allowances. Our troops are doing quite very well, we’re getting more equipment to fight,” he said.
Musa further warned that any attempt to overthrow a democratically elected government would not succeed, stressing that Nigerians themselves would resist such an action.
“Anybody who is thinking of planning a coup is just wasting their time, even the civilians in Nigeria will have taken them down, so I think it was just foolhardy for them to have done what they are trying to do, or what they wanted to do,” he said.