Gana, from Niger State, is the Danmagayaki of Nupe.
A retired Army General, Mohammed Ibrahim Gana, was arrested alongside military officers and civilians accused of planning a forceful overthrow of President Bola Tinubu’s government, SaharaReporters has gathered.
Gana, from Niger State, is the Danmagayaki of Nupe.
Sources told SaharaReporters that the retired General was arrested a week after his son, Lieutenant Colonel Sadiq Ibrahim-Gana, was detained by military intelligence officers.
Ibrahim-Gana is among the 35 military officers currently being detained for allegedly plotting a coup to terminate Nigeria’s democracy.
The Lieutenant Colonel, who was the Commanding Officer of 115 Battalion, Askira, Borno State, is number 9 on an exclusive list of detainees obtained by SaharaReporters.
“A retired Army General, Mohammed Ibrahim Gana, was also arrested. He is said to be the one who helped the alleged mastermind of the coup, Colonel Alhassan Ma'aji, get admission into NDA in August 1995. Being Ma’aji’s godfather, they believed he was aware of the plan, nothing else was linked to him apart from that,” a military source told SaharaReporters.
“Also, the retired General’s son, who is presently a Lieutenant Colonel, was also arrested and has been in detention as well. Nothing was traced to him as well as he was busy fighting Boko Haram in Borno, but they still believed he has a link with the coup plotters.
“We have many other civilians, including mechanics, picked up for allegedly repairing some vehicles for the said plotters as well. Even a Julius Berger staff – just to show you the so-called DIA operatives aren’t intelligent as they claimed – and many innocent people who know nothing about the issue are in detention.”
Earlier, SaharaReporters exclusively reported the arrest of a policeman alongside military officers accused of planning to overthrow the President. The police officer, identified as Inspector Ahmed Ibrahim, is from Taraba State. SaharaReporters learnt that Ibrahim was arrested in Abuja by operatives of the Defence Intelligence Agency and is currently in the agency’s custody.
Among the 35 military officers detained are: an Army Brigadier General, 2 Colonels, 5 Lieutenant Colonels, 1 Wing Commander (Air Force equivalent of a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army), 8 Majors, 1 Lieutenant Commander (Navy equivalent of a Major in the Army), 2 Squadron Leaders (Air Force equivalent of a Major in the Army), 5 Captains, and a Lieutenant.
Also in detention are 10 non-commissioned officers (NCOs), which include a Warrant Officer, 5 Sergeants, one Corporal, and two Lance Corporals. While one of the detained Army Captains, A. Yusuf, is from Osun State, Squadron Leader Zuzu, a senior Air Force Officer, is from Bayelsa State. The 33 others are all from the Northern part of the country, including the FCT, with 3 officers.
Two of the officers, a Brigadier General and a Lieutenant Colonel, are from Nasarawa State; 6, including three non-commissioned officers, are from Niger State. Three are from Katsina State, including a Colonel who was undergoing a course in a North African country.
Three of the affected officers, all Lieutenant Colonels, are from Kaduna, Plateau, and Kano States. Two Majors are both from Gombe State, while another is from Bauchi. Others are from Kebbi, Jigawa, Zamfara, Taraba, Yobe, Kogi, Sokoto, and Adamawa.
In October 2025, SaharaReporters exclusively reported how some military officers were arrested by the DIA in Abuja over an alleged plot to overthrow President Tinubu’s government.
The military agency, established in 1986, is Nigeria’s primary military intelligence body. It is responsible for gathering and providing intelligence to the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence to counter security threats, safeguard national integrity, and support military operations, including ongoing efforts against terrorism and insurgency.
Sources at the Defence Headquarters confirmed that the officers, drawn from the Nigerian Army, Navy, and Air Force, were arrested in coordinated operations by military intelligence operatives following weeks of covert surveillance.
However, the Defence Headquarters initially dismissed the reports, saying the arrest of the officers mentioned in the reports was unrelated to any alleged coup plot.
Meanwhile, SaharaReporters had reported on January 23, 2026, that at least five of the detained officers fell ill while in custody, with two reportedly collapsing due to worsening conditions.
Sources disclosed that the officers were allegedly transferred from an initial DIA detention facility to an underground military cell in Abuja described as dark and poorly ventilated.
Families of the detained officers have repeatedly raised concerns over what they described as in officers described as inhumane treatment, prolonged incommunicado detention, and denial of access to lawyers and relatives.
Some spouses told SaharaReporters that they were not informed of transfers between detention facilities and had been barred from visits since the arrests.
The case has also drawn political attention following reports that military operatives raided the Maitama, Abuja residence of former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, in connection with the investigation. Sylva later confirmed the visit but denied any involvement, describing attempts to link him to the matter as politically motivated.
Despite earlier official denials of any coup plot, Monday’s statement by the DHQ now formally acknowledges that allegations of plotting to overthrow the government were among the findings against some of the detained officers.