Personalities behind alleged coup plot to oust Tinubu revealed

STEPHEN GBADAMOSI, IBADAN

Investigations into the alleged plot to remove President Bola Tinubu from office have pointed to two individuals who are believed to have provided money to support the scheme.

According to a report on Thursday, a total of N835 million was reportedly funneled through two private companies to aid the alleged conspiracy.

Former Bayelsa State governor, Timipre Sylva, was said to have contributed the largest portion, N785 million, through an Abuja-based construction firm called Purple Waves Limited.

The company’s secretary, John Ebokpo, has been reportedly detained by security agencies as part of the ongoing investigation.

Mr. Sylva, who previously served as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources under the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, remains at large and is alleged to be the main financier of the failed plan.

Records from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) do not show Mr. Sylva as a director or shareholder in Purple Waves Limited, which was registered in March 2009 for construction and maintenance work.

The second person identified, Moses Zakwa, was said to have contributed N50 million through Clay Ring Services Limited, a Lagos-based property management and renovation company where he is listed as a director.

Little information is available about him, though a person with the same name led a peaceful protest in 2014 advocating for the release of abducted schoolgirls in Borno State.

There were reports of alleged coup plot last year, with many top military personnel detained allegedly on routine military exercise. But many Nigerians later got to know that there was a failed military putsch. After a long period of denial, the military hierarchy later owned up that there was a coup attempt.