Defence Minister Christopher Musa has said the officers who plotted to overthrow President Bola Tinubu’s government had so little support that ordinary Nigerians would have taken them down without the military’s intervention.

He described the plotters as a band of confused individuals who recklessly dragged clueless junior officers into a doomed enterprise.

Musa spoke on Arise News on Friday, as the general court martial of officers accused of involvement in the October 2025 plot continues.

“Even the civilians in Nigeria would have taken them down. So I think it was just foolhardy for them to have done what they wanted to do,” he said.

The minister expressed disbelief at the calibre of those involved, saying he shook his head when he considered who they were.

“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 very junior officers who didn’t know their left from their right, and now put them into this mess. It’s quite unfortunate,” he said.

Musa reserved particular sympathy for the lower-ranked officers, whom he described as victims of a senior officer’s recklessness.

We always feel bad when we see our colleagues in this situation. But the good thing is that the system has a way of going about it,” he said.

On the ongoing prosecution, the minister said the process was transparent and that the accused were being given every opportunity to defend themselves.

“The investigation was very thorough. The prosecution is now ongoing, and the court martial will go as planned. We are giving them all the benefits to defend themselves. (Text, excluding headline: The PUNCH)

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