Journalists were yesterday ordered out of the courtroom of Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja, venue of the trial of six men charged with a coup plot against the government of President Bola Tinubu.
Judiciary correspondents had arrived at the court at about 8 a.m. and secured seats awaiting the commencement of the court’s sitting.
At about 9 a.m., a court official announced that those unable to secure seats should vacate the courtroom, as the judge would not allow anyone to stand once the court began sitting.
While those without seats, including lawyers, were making their way out of the courtroom, another court official and security personnel approached the journalists sitting and asked them to stand and exit the courtroom immediately.
When asked why, they said the trial judge, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, had instructed them not to allow journalists into the court.
When told that the trial of the alleged coup plotters was of public importance and that there was no court order requiring proceedings to be conducted without media presence, the officials insisted they were acting on the judge’s instructions.
Shortly after the journalists were evicted, the security official locked the door, and the judge commenced the sitting.
The six men: Maj-Gen. Mohammed Ibrahim Gana (rtd), Captain (NN) Erasmus Ochegobia Victor (rtd), Inspector Ahmed Ibrahim, Zekeri Umoru, Bukar Kashim Goni and Abdulkadir Sani, were arraigned on a 13-count charge.
The defendants, in the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/206/2026, were alleged to have plotted to levy war against the state to overawe the President.
They were also accused of offences ranging from treason and terrorism to failure to disclose security intelligence and money laundering linked to terrorism financing.
The defendants were also alleged to have “conspired with one another to levy war against the state to overawe the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” an offence punishable under Section 37(2) of the Criminal Code.
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