An air force officer recently deployed to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) was allegedly assigned to assassinate Nuhu Ribadu, Nigeria’s national security adviser, sources familiar with investigations into the suspected coup plot have told TheCable.
The officer, Squadron Leader SB Adamu (service number NAF/3481) from Jigawa State, was posted to the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) — a unit coordinated by ONSA — four weeks before the alleged plot was foiled.
Despite earlier reports suggesting that multiple suspects were embedded in the ONSA, Adamu is understood to be the only suspect linked to the office through the NCTC.
Military insiders said Major-General Adamu Garba Laka, the national coordinator of the NCTC, had requested a specific officer for deployment to the centre in August 2025, but the request was denied. Instead, Adamu was posted to the unit — a development now fuelling suspicion that the alleged plotters may have penetrated the military’s senior ranks.
Adamu is from Regular Course 59 of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA).
President Bola Tinubu recently removed two service chiefs, including Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, as part of what sources described as a “security clean-up”.
Investigators believe Adamu’s alleged mission was to “take out” Ribadu, while other officers were purportedly tasked with targeting senior government figures, according to officials briefed on the probe. Adamu is said to be cooperating with interrogators.
The military has yet to formally confirm the coup allegations. The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said in a statement, following an initial report by Sahara Reporters, that 16 officers are currently under investigation in what it described as a “routine internal process aimed at ensuring discipline and professionalism”.
Brigadier-General Tukur Gusau, director of defence information, said the findings will be made public.
Media outlets have since continued to unmask the identities of detained personnel as details of the alleged plot emerge.