Coup: The plan was to shoot me, says defence minister

Ebun Emmanuel — February 1, 2026

The Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), on Sunday disclosed that he was among the intended targets of the recently foiled coup plot against President Bola Tinubu.

The revealed the conspirators planned to kill him or incarcerate him if he cooperated.

Musa spoke on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, where he also described the suspects behind the plot as “a bunch of very unserious individuals.”

While admitting that he played a key role in helping security agencies nip the plot in the bud, the former Chief of Defence Staff said he was a target of plotters.

He said, “I was also a target: I was supposed to be arrested, and if I refused, I was supposed to be shot,” he said.

“But anybody who goes into coup zeroes his mind because he knows if he succeeds, good. If he doesn’t succeed, whatever consequences come, you are ready for it.

“But again, I think these guys were just a bunch of very unserious individuals that I really don’t know. If you look at the calibre of the individuals, I really don’t know what got into their heads to think that they could take on the armed forces like that.”

He added that even without the intervention of the military, Nigerians would have resisted any attempt to overthrow a democratically elected government.