A "considerable" number of Nigerian military officers have been arrested following "serious breaches of security," officials say. Presidential spokeswoman Remi Oyo told the BBC that the investigation follow rumours of a coup plot.
| It's Africa, of course there's a coup plot. |
Nigeria has frequently been ruled by the military, but returned to civilian rule in 1999 with the election of President Olusegun Obasanjo. But Ms Oyo said there was "no danger whatsoever; this president is firmly in charge."
| "Let me check, yup, no tanks outside. He's still in charge." |
She confirmed that the former head of security for the late military ruler, Sani Abacha, Hamza al-Mustapha, is involved in the incident. Mr al-Mustapha was seized from prison by police earlier this week and handed to military intelligence.
| So the intel guys did snatch him from prison yesterday. |
During Abacha's rule, Mr al-Mustapha was considered Nigeria's second most powerful official. In 1998, he was charged in 1998 with ordering the murder of Kudirat Abiola, the wife of opposition politician Chief Moshood Abiola.
The BBC's Mannir Dan-Ali in Abuja says military officials want to question him over his involvement in the alleged coup plot. The Nigerian Prisons Service said on Thursday that Mr al-Mustapha had been released to agents of the Directorate of Military Intelligence for questioning on "matters of national security," reports AFP news agency.
| Hummm, yesterday the BBC said that he had been snatched from jail after a gunbattle and a judge was looking for him. Well, it is the BBC after all. |
"This coup allegation is just a ploy to keep him behind bars, " Mr al-Mustapha's brother Hadi told AFP news agency at the family home in the northern city of Kano.
| Planning a coup from your jail cell is a old and well respected custom. |
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