COURT ADMITS INTERROGATION VIDEOS, STATEMENTS OF ALLEGED COUP PLOTTERS
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By ‘Balogun Ibrahim
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday admitted statements and video recordings of six alleged coup plotters, obtained during military interrogations, as evidence in their ongoing trial.
The court rejected the defendants’ claims that the materials were obtained through torture, inducement and coercion.
In her ruling on a trial-within-trial, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik held that the Federal Government had established that the defendants voluntarily made the statements and participated in the recorded interrogations.
The judge described their allegations of duress as an afterthought, noting that no evidence had been presented to prove that the military tortured them or used force to obtain the statements.
The defendants are retired Major General Mohammed Gana, retired Navy Captain Erasmus Victor, Inspector Ahmed Ibrahim, Zekeri Umoru, Bukar Goni and Abdulkadir Sani.
The Federal Government, through the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, arraigned the six men on April 22 on a 13-count charge bordering on treason, terrorism, failure to disclose security intelligence and money laundering linked to terrorism financing.
The case is marked FHC/ABJ/CR/206/2026.
Justice Abdulmalik had ordered the trial-within-trial on May 11 after defence counsel challenged the admissibility of the statements and video recordings tendered by the prosecution, arguing that they were not voluntarily obtained.
The objection followed the testimony of four prosecution witnesses, including an Army officer identified by the codename AAA, who submitted video recordings of the defendants’ interrogations.
After dismissing the objections and admitting the materials as exhibits, the judge adjourned the case until December 7 and 10 for continuation of the trial.
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