NO fewer than five people working closely with former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, have been arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) over allegations that they concealed information regarding the whereabouts of the former minister.
News Point Nigeria reports that the suspects were allegedly arrested for failing to disclose the location of their principal, who has reportedly been in hiding since he was linked to an alleged coup plot against the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
The Federal Government had earlier filed a 13-count charge against seven civilians accused of participating in an alleged plot to overthrow the Tinubu-led administration.
Six of the alleged coup plotters, who were investigated by both the Nigerian military and the DSS, were accused of terrorising citizens and conspiring to remove a democratically elected government.
The charges against them include treasonable felony, conspiracy to overthrow the government, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and other offences relating to national security threats.
Sylva, a former governor of Bayelsa State, was identified as the seventh defendant in the case. He has reportedly been on the run since April, when the other suspects were arraigned before a Federal High Court in Abuja, where he is being tried in absentia.
Those standing trial over the alleged coup plot include retired Major-General Mohammed Ibrahim Gana, retired Navy Captain Victor Erasmus Ochegobia, serving police Inspector Ahmed Ibrahim, and Timipre Sylva.
Others charged are Zekeri Umoru, Bukar Kashim Goni and Abdulkadir Sani, while serving military officers allegedly connected to the case are currently facing court-martial proceedings.
Providing an update on the investigation, a highly placed security source, who spoke anonymously, disclosed that five members of Sylva’s staff and close associates had been questioned by investigators and would also be arraigned before the court.
According to the source, the suspects may face more serious allegations than their principal because of their alleged refusal to cooperate with investigators by withholding information that could have led to Sylva’s arrest.
“They have failed to cooperate with investigators. That means they are also accomplices, they are collaborators in this undemocratic stance. They will have their day in Court soon,” one of the security sources told this newspaper.
The DSS has yet to issue an official statement on the arrests, while no date has been announced for the arraignment of the five suspects.
