Nigeria's 2025 coup trial: alleged ringleader paid millions to Islamic clerics for spiritual backing, planned to recruit Boko Haram ex-fighters
Exclusive reporting by Nigeria's Premium Times on July 29, 2026 reveals new details from the ongoing trial of six men accused of plotting to overthrow Nigerian President Bola Tinubu in 2025; the alleged mastermind paid millions of naira to Islamic clerics to seek spiritual backing for the coup, and the plotters planned to recruit repentant Boko Haram fighters and Civilian Joint Task Force members to form an armed force
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Summary
Nigeria's courts are in a second day of hearing against six defendants accused of plotting to overthrow President Bola Tinubu in 2025. Premium Times, the country's leading investigative newspaper, published two exclusive reports on July 29 drawing on trial testimony and documents. The first revealed that the alleged conspirators planned to recruit repentant Boko Haram fighters and members of the Civilian Joint Task Force to form an armed wing. The second disclosed that the alleged ringleader paid millions of naira to Islamic clerics seeking spiritual endorsement for the plot. Nigeria has no history of a successful coup since 1983.
The split
The trial evidence is emerging almost entirely through Premium Times' exclusive series, which is the main originating source; AllAfrica and Politics Nigeria syndicated or picked up the same reporting without independent sourcing. No international wire has covered the trial proceedings in depth, leaving this as a story visible mainly to the Nigerian and West African press.
By the numbers
- 6, defendants on trial accused of plotting to overthrow the government
- 2025, year the alleged coup attempt took place
- Millions of naira, paid to Islamic clerics by the alleged ringleader for spiritual backing (exact amount not disclosed in excerpts)
Why it matters
Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and the continent's largest economy. A documented attempt to overthrow a democratically elected government, and the network of actors it tried to assemble, from jihadist ex-fighters to civilian militias, is significant for the West African security landscape regardless of whether the plot was ever close to execution.
What to watch
- Witness testimony on who else had advance knowledge of the plot
- Whether the trial produces evidence connecting defendants to serving military officers
- Premium Times' next installments in the series, which are described as ongoing