Investigations into the alleged 2025 plot to overthrow President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration have revealed how some suspects allegedly relied on WhatsApp and a lesser-known privacy-focused messaging application, Zangi, for communication.
According to Premium Times, documents assembled by military investigators and filed as part of the proof of evidence in ongoing trials indicate that electronic communications have become an important part of efforts to reconstruct the alleged conspiracy and establish the roles allegedly played by individual suspects.
While WhatsApp is widely used in Nigeria, Zangi is less popular and promotes privacy and secure communication as some of its main features.
The company behind the application says communications are protected by end-to-end encryption and users’ communication histories are stored on their devices rather than its servers.
The platform also allows users to register without providing a mobile telephone number, instead assigning them a private Zangi number.
One of the defendants, retired Navy Captain Erasmus Victor, provided investigators with details about how the application allegedly became part of communications involving individuals linked to the alleged plot.
Victor is standing trial alongside five others at the Federal High Court in Abuja on 13 counts, including treason.
In an extrajudicial statement obtained by Premium Times, Victor told investigators that Army Colonel Mohammed Ma’aji, identified by investigators as a central figure in the alleged conspiracy, introduced him to Zangi because he considered the application more secure than conventional telephone communication.
Victor said he subsequently downloaded the application specifically to communicate with Ma’aji and Lieutenant Colonel Shamsuddeen Bappah, an officer of the Nigerian Army Signals Corps whose name also surfaced during the investigation.
The retired naval officer, however, denied participating in the alleged plot.
Investigators alleged that Victor was assigned to approach potential financiers and secure their support for the purported plan.
Among those he was allegedly asked to approach was the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
Victor, who served as chairman of Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area of Rivers State between 2018 and 2021 when Wike was governor, told investigators that he never contacted the minister or any of the other individuals he was allegedly asked to approach.
He maintained that he did not take the purported coup discussions seriously, although he reportedly expressed regret that he failed to report what he knew to the authorities.
Investigation records submitted in the cases contain several printouts of electronic messages allegedly exchanged among suspects.
The records form part of thousands of pages of evidence assembled by investigators following the discovery of the alleged conspiracy in September 2025.
Despite Zangi’s privacy features, the use of encrypted messaging does not necessarily make communications inaccessible to investigators.
End-to-end encryption is primarily designed to prevent unauthorised parties from reading communications while they are transmitted between users.
However, information may still remain on the devices used for the communications, depending on the application, device settings and other circumstances.
Investigators examining such devices may consequently seek relevant conversations, contacts, files and other electronic records in accordance with applicable legal procedures.
Electronic communications are only one aspect of the evidence being examined in connection with the alleged coup.
Investigators have also scrutinised financial transactions, meetings, movements, witness statements and other records in an attempt to establish connections among those accused of involvement.
Communication records may therefore become significant when examined alongside other evidence presented by prosecutors.
Several military personnel are currently facing proceedings before a General Court Martial, while Victor and five other defendants are being prosecuted before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Victor and other defendants have denied wrongdoing and challenged the admissibility of extrajudicial statements attributed to them.
They alleged that the statements were obtained without compliance with required legal safeguards and asked the court to reject them as evidence.
The prosecution has opposed their objections, maintaining that the statements were lawfully obtained and should be admitted.
