For most of 2025, rumours circulated in Abuja political circles that a plot had been uncovered against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu around the 1 October Independence-Day parade. The State Security Service (SSS) and the Office of the National Security Adviser kept the matter classified until April 2026, when the Federal Government filed a thirteen-count amended charge before the Federal High Court in Abuja charging six defendants — including a retired Major-General, a serving Police Inspector, and a Nollywood actor identified in court documents as part of a 'spiritual cell' — with terrorism, treason and conspiracy to overthrow the constitutionally elected government.
The prosecution, led by the office of the Attorney-General Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), alleged that the conspirators had pooled funds, held prayer meetings invoking the removal of Tinubu, and approached middle-ranking officers in the Brigade of Guards to participate in a strike planned around 1 October 2025. The defence dismissed the case as a politically motivated dragnet against critics of the administration; the trial judge ordered remand at Kuje Prison pending hearing.
Whether or not the plot was operational, the prosecution itself was historically significant: Nigeria had not seen a publicly tried coup conspiracy since the trials of the 1995 and 1997 'phantom coup' suspects under Sani Abacha. The Tinubu case marked the first time a Fourth-Republic civilian president had alleged in open court that elements of the security services and a retired flag officer had moved against his government — and the first time a Nollywood figure had been arraigned on a treason charge.