* President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
The Pathfinder
Thursday October 30, 2025
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When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu first received intelligence hinting at a plot to overthrow his government, his initial reaction, according to Daily Sun, was one of utter disbelief. Sitting through the classified briefing, the president reportedly waved off the report, describing it as “unthinkable” in today’s Nigeria and demanding hard evidence before any alarm could be raised.
But what began as a rumour soon snowballed into one of the most startling intelligence operations of his presidency — a multi-agency probe involving the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Citing authoritative security sources, Daily Sun reported that President Tinubu’s skepticism prompted the DIA to deepen its investigation and trace financial movements allegedly linked to a network of serving and retired officers. The turning point came when operatives reportedly tracked a huge sum of money believed to have been set aside to fund the aborted coup — funds which Daily Sun said were traced to the accounts of former Bayelsa State governor and ex-Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva.
Daily Sun gathered that several of the arrested military officers, led by a Brigadier General, had named Sylva as the chief financier of the plot during interrogation. The disclosures shocked the intelligence community and triggered a joint forensic investigation involving the NFIU and EFCC to confirm the financial trail.
According to the newspaper when the findings were finally presented to the president — complete with transaction records and confessional statements — Tinubu was said to have been visibly shaken over the plot to overthrow his government. For the first time, President Tinubu accepted that the plot to overthrow him was not mere political fiction but a coordinated attempt to undermine his administration.
The newspaper also revealed that the funds in question were allegedly intended for the purchase of drones and high-tech weaponry, designed to limit troop involvement and execute what sources described as a “technologically driven operation.”
While Daily Sun noted that investigations into the case have been concluded and are awaiting formal submission to the presidency, military authorities are said to be preparing to publicly name the indicted officers and convene a General Court Martial in the coming days.
Few days ago, Sylva’s Abuja residence was raided by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) — not by soldiers as earlier speculated — in connection with the ongoing probe.
However, Sylva, through his media aide Chief Julius Bokoru, denied all allegations, insisting he had “no link whatsoever” to any plot to overthrow Tinubu. In a statement obtained by GWG.ng, Bokoru described the reports as the handiwork of “desperate and narcissistic politicians” seeking to destroy Sylva’s political image ahead of 2027.
“Chief Sylva is a thoroughbred democrat whose political journey has always been defined by faith in democratic processes,” Bokoru said, recalling how Sylva recently mobilised the Bayelsa APC structure to endorse President Tinubu during an expanded stakeholders’ meeting.
Bokoru confirmed that Sylva was abroad for medical reasons and a professional engagement in Malaysia when the DSS raid occurred, stressing that his principal remained “a loyal supporter of President Tinubu and his administration.”
Still, Daily Sun concluded that what President Tinubu initially dismissed as “a phantom coup rumour” has now become one of the most sensitive national security files on his desk — an investigation whose details, when finally made public, could redefine civil-military relations in the Tinubu era.
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