As a group of military officers allegedly plotting to overthrow the President Bola Tinubu-led government scrambled for weapons and money, they quickly figured out they needed to settle on how to gain smooth, non-violent access into the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
They reasoned that working with insiders would help overcome the Presidential Villa’s fortification, which would largely determine what happened next.
PREMIUM TIMES has obtained confidential documents investigators compiled for the prosecution of suspects linked to last year’s failed coup. These documents reveal a fuller picture of the planning for what the alleged conspirators called the “H-Hour” of their intended strike on the Presidential Villa.
The need for access brought the conspirators directly to a serving police inspector attached to the Presidential Villa, Ahmed Ibrahim, who was serving in the VIP escort with a daily routine to guard the gates to Nigeria’s seat of power, arguably the most secure fortress in the country.
The confidential files show how this request for assistance transformed into an extraordinary insider game of deception, where Mr Ibrahim allegedly turned a treasonous coup plot into a highly lucrative personal hustle.
