Court Accepts Evidence Against Alleged Coup Plotters in Abuja

The Federal High Court in Abuja has accepted statements and video recordings from six people accused of plotting a coup. This decision was made on Thursday during a trial concerning their case.

The court rejected the defendants’ claims that these materials were obtained through torture or coercion. Justice Joyce Abdulmalik ruled that the government proved the defendants voluntarily gave their statements and participated in the video recordings.

The judge described the allegations of duress as an afterthought and noted there was no evidence to support claims of torture by the military. The accused individuals include retired Major General Mohammed Gana, retired Navy Captain Erasmus Victor, Inspector Ahmed Ibrahim, Zekeri Umoru, Bukar Goni, and Abdulkadir Sani.

The Federal Government charged them on April 22 with serious offenses, including treason and terrorism-related charges. The case is marked as FHC/ABJ/CR/206/2026.

Justice Abdulmalik ordered a trial-within-trial on May 11 after the defense argued that the statements and videos should not be accepted as evidence. This followed testimonies from four prosecution witnesses, including an Army officer who provided the video recordings.

After dismissing the defense’s objections, the judge has scheduled the next court dates for December 7 and 10 to continue the trial.