Following the palace coup d’état that sacked the Mohammmadu Buhari military junta in August 1985, his successor, General Ibrahim Babangida (a.k.a. IBB) moved speedily to consolidate his hold on power. Barely a month after the coup, 42 military officers were forcefully retired from service. In December 1985, the new military regime announced that it had discovered a plot to overthrow it. IBB's childhood friend, classmate, and close associate, General Mamman Jiya Vatsa and 9 other officers were arrested and detained for allegedly planning the coup.
It was announced by the defence headquarters that the detained coup plotters had planned the bombing the Eko Bridge in Lagos, sabotaging vital military airbases, and shooting down or hijacking the presidential aircraft. However, no iota of evidence was adduced to justify the grave allegations levelled against the detained coup suspects. Furthermore, at the material time, the suspects could only have been tried for treasonable felony in the Lagos High Court. The offence of planning a coup was triable under section 41 of the Criminal Code Act which provides that any person who forms an intention to remove during his term of office otherwise than by constitutional means, the President as Head of State of the Federation and Commander‐in‐Chief of the Armed Forces, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life.
