A Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday heard that Sheikh Sani Abdulkadir, the sixth defendant in the ongoing trial of alleged coup plotters accused of attempting to overthrow the government of President Bola Tinubu, warned the suspects that their plan would fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency publication focused on the Lake Chad region, Sheikh Sani made the disclosure in a video recording played during the resumed hearing before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sheikh Sani, an Islamic cleric, admitted receiving money to pray for the success of the alleged operation but said he warned those involved that the plan would eventually be exposed from within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the recording, he said he had known the alleged ringleader, identified as Maaji, for less than one year and was approached through an intermediary named Sanda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He told the court that Sanda informed him that his \u201cOga\u201d intended to stage a coup and sought spiritual support regarding the likelihood of success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After conducting prayers, Sheikh Sani said he informed them that the operation would fail because two individuals would eventually expose the conspiracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to him, the group later requested additional prayers to prevent the two individuals from speaking out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zagazola Makama reported that money was subsequently transferred to the cleric for prayers and charitable activities, while names of alleged participants were forwarded for inclusion in the prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sheikh Sani stated that he first became aware of the arrests through media reports after Sanda informed him that Maaji had been unreachable for four days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He maintained that the money he received was strictly for prayers and not to support any coup attempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cleric also acknowledged that he understood a coup to mean the military overthrow of a government but said he did not report the alleged plot because he did not know whom to inform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to his testimony, he was later arrested after visiting the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to resolve restrictions placed on his bank account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said EFCC officials invited him to explain the source of the funds deposited into the account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sheikh Sani denied making any coup-related confession while in EFCC custody and stated that he was neither assaulted nor tortured during interrogation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll my statements were made voluntarily,\u201d he said in the recording played before the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the playback, the prosecution sought to tender extrajudicial statements made by all six defendants before a special investigation panel and military police authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, defence counsel objected, arguing that the statements were obtained involuntarily or in breach of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The defence cited several grounds for objection, including the alleged failure to inform the defendants of their right to legal representation, discrepancies between video recordings and written statements, claims of coercion and torture, and concerns that the recordings did not adequately show the defendants\u2019 physical condition during interrogation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Counsel representing the fifth defendant also argued that the court should conduct separate trial-within-trial proceedings for each disputed statement because of the number of accused persons involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prosecution opposed the request, maintaining that the law does not require separate proceedings and that the court has discretion over the admission of evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justice Abdulmalik subsequently ruled in favour of a single joint trial-within-trial to determine the voluntariness and admissibility of the disputed statements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The case was adjourned until today May 12, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Federal Government had on April 22 arraigned six suspects on a 13-count charge bordering on alleged terrorism and conspiracy to overthrow President Tinubu\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The defendants \u2014 Mohammed Gana, retired Navy Captain Erasmus Ochegobia Victor, serving police inspector Ahmed Ibrahim, Zekeri Umoru, Bukar Kashim Goni and Sani Abdulkadir \u2014 all pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva was also mentioned in the charge and is reportedly at large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The defendants are accused of waging war against Nigeria and committing offences relating to treason and terrorism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday heard that Sheikh Sani Abdulkadir, the sixth defendant in the ongoing trial of alleged coup plotters accused of attempting to overthrow the government of President Bola Tinubu, warned the suspects that their plan would fail. According to Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency publication focused on the Lake Chad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,2,5,23],"tags":[176,134,175],"class_list":["post-92","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courts-law","category-news","category-security-justice","category-top-stories","tag-government","tag-nigeria","tag-tinubu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetimesnigeria.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetimesnigeria.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetimesnigeria.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetimesnigeria.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetimesnigeria.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetimesnigeria.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetimesnigeria.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions\/94"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetimesnigeria.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetimesnigeria.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetimesnigeria.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetimesnigeria.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}