Femi Falana, SAN, a human rights lawyer, has criticised the Nigerian military for declaring that some officers will face a military court hearing over an alleged plot to overthrow the government.
More than three months after it announced in October 2025 that 16 officers had been detained for obstructing service rules, the military made the disclosure on Monday.
The military at the time dissented from reports that the 2025 Independence Day parade had been suspended in response to an alleged coup plot, calling the claim false, malicious, and liable to inflict unnecessary tension and distrust among Nigerians.
Falana said Falana’s response to the military’s most recent statement, which acknowledged an alleged plot to overthrow the government, suggested that the authorities had purposefully misled the public.
Also read: Military To Protest Officers Over Accusable Plan to Overthrow Government
Falana claimed that the military should have apologized to Nigerians for their earlier denial in a statement released on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday.
“The military authorities should have expressed regret to Nigerians yesterday. Falana argued that those in charge must learn to take our country as a people seriously.
He added that it was unacceptable to reverse such a grave position without making an apology.
You ought to have apologised to the Nigerian people if you had admitted there was no coup plot three months ago and discovered that the matter went beyond indiscipline during your investigation, he said.
A public apology after the allegations had been confirmed and a public acknowledgement of the earlier denial, in Falana’s opinion, would have been preferable.
However, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria expressed hope that the military would continue to make amends to Nigerians.
He claimed that a court martial could not try the detained officers. If the issue were merely one of indiscipline, he claimed, a court martial would have been sufficient.
He claimed that the officers can only be accused of treason or treasonable felony, offences that can only be determined by a Federal or State High Court because it involves an alleged coup plot.
Falana criticized the detained officers’ lack of legal representation, arguing that their legal representatives have the right to meet with their attorneys, members of their families, and doctors, rights that, in his opinion, have been denied.
Source: Channels TV
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