Nigeria will charge several officers over an alleged plot to overthrow President Bola Tinubu after the military acknowledged for the first time that 16 soldiers arrested in October were suspected of planning a coup.
The military said on Monday that its findings had identified several of those detained as being linked to the alleged plot, after they were initially arrested for “acts of indiscipline and breaches of service regulations”.
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Attempting to overthrow a government is considered treason, an offence punishable by penalties ranging from life imprisonment to the death penalty, though executions are rarely carried out.
Africa’s most populous nation has a long history of military coups, many of them bloody, but has been under civilian rule since 1999. In that time, several neighbouring countries have experienced military takeovers, with Nigeria recently deploying its armed forces to help quell an attempted putsch in Benin.
Tinubu, who came to power in May 2023 after winning a tightly contested election, is due to complete his first four-year term in May next year and is expected to seek re-election in polls likely to be held in February 2027.
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