The African Democratic Congress has accused the Federal Government of exploiting reports of an alleged coup plot to divert public attention from governance issues and intimidate opposition figures.
The party’s National Spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, in a statement uploaded on X on Monday, said while the ADC remained firmly opposed to any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s constitutional order, it was alarmed by what it described as “conflicting signals” from government sources regarding the alleged plot.
“We are particularly concerned about the conflicting signals coming from government sources, especially as the Defence Headquarters has publicly denied ever mentioning a coup plot, despite widespread media reports to the contrary.
“Such inconsistency raises serious fears that the coup narrative may have been politically engineered,” Abdullahi said.
The ADC said the government’s silence had allowed the rumour to fester, warning that the situation could be used as a pretext for a political clampdown.
“What is clear, however, is that the government is exploiting the coup story to divert attention from the real issues of misgovernance in the country and to curry sympathy.
“Subsequent unattributed media reports purportedly implicating unnamed politicians in the so-called plot now provide a pretext for the government to clamp down on opposition figures or mount undue surveillance on them,” Abdullahi said.
The party called on the Federal Government to issue a categorical statement to clarify the situation, urging transparency and restraint.
“Government must desist from weaponising national security as a pretext to silence opposition and political dissent,” the statement read
However, the Federal Government has reaffirmed its confidence in the Nigerian military, dismissing reports of a coup as false and mischievous.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, in an interview with The PUNCH on Sunday, said the government had no reason to doubt the military’s position.
“The Federal Government has no reason to doubt the military on what it has said.
“The Federal Government believes that the Armed Forces of Nigeria is committed to ensuring the territorial integrity of the country and also strengthening its fight against insecurity,” Idros stated.
On Saturday, the Director of Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Tukur Gusau, had dismissed a report by an online newspaper alleging that 16 detained military officers were linked to a failed coup.
Gusau described the publication as “intended to cause unnecessary tension and distrust among the populace,” explaining that the cancellation of Nigeria’s 65th Independence Day parade was “purely administrative.”
He said the decision allowed President Bola Tinubu to attend a bilateral meeting abroad and enabled troops to sustain ongoing operations against insurgency and banditry.
Declaring that “democracy is forever,” Gusau said the detained officers were undergoing a “routine internal investigation” aimed at ensuring discipline and professionalism in the armed forces.
He assured that an investigative panel had been constituted and its findings would be made public.
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