Detained domestic workers and aides to former Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva have urged the Federal High Court in Abuja to order their release from custody, where they have been detained for about six months over coup plot allegations levelled against their principal.
Alternatively, they urged the court to release them on bail or order the authorities to charge them before a court of competent jurisdiction to face their trial.
Judge Yilwa, after listening to the lawyers for the parties on Tuesday, fixed 23 April for ruling.
The State Security Service (SSS) arrested them in Abuja in October last year over coup allegations levelled against their principal, Mr Sylva, who himself has yet to be found by the government.
The security agency obtained the court’s order on 17 November 2025 to detain them for 60 days.
SSS obtained the order after informing the court that they were being investigated for treason and treasonable felony – allegations levelled against people suspected of being involved in or supporting an insurrection against the government.
The five detainees are Friday Paul, Musa Mohammed, Ayuba Ruben, Ayebaife Suobite and Anagha Pagannengigha.
They argued that the remand order, which the court directed should last for 60 days, has since expired.
“The continued custody of the 5th respondent/applicant after the expiration of the remand order is unlawful and constitutes a violation of his constitutionally guaranteed right to personal liberty,” lawyer to Anagha Pagannengigha, one of the detainees, wrote in a filing applying for a release order.
“The applicant/respondent (SSS) has neither arraigned the 5th respondent/applicant before a court of competent jurisdiction nor obtained any further order extending the remand.”
But Mr Pagannengigha’s wife, Preye Pagannengigha, said in an affidavit she swore and filed in support of the motion that SSS operatives arrested him and the others on 25 October 2025 at Mr Sylva’s house in Maitama, Abuja. The motion was filed on 28 February.
Mrs Pagannengigha, who described her husband as “a domestic staff member” to Mr Sylva, said, “When Chief Timipre Sylva was not found at the residence, the operatives arrested three aide and domestic workers including my husband.
But Mr Sylva, alleged to be a major financier of the failed coup, has yet to be arrested.
In October last year, after security operatives raided his house in Abuja, Mr Sylva denied involvement in the alleged coup in a statementin a statement.
He said he and his wife, Alanyingi, had been in the UK for a routine medical check-up and would proceed to Malaysia for a professional conference.
He is not known to have returned to the country since then.
PREMIUM TIMES has extensively reported on the alleged unsuccessful coup plot against President Bola Tinubu’s government.
One of this newspaper’s reports in March detailed an elaborate plot by suspected coup conspirators to storm Nigeria’s seat of power, seize the Presidential Villa, and capture President Bola Tinubu and other top officials
The suspects allegedly planned to overrun the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Nigeria’s most fortified political stronghold, and capture President Tinubu, along with Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio and House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas were also to be captured and possibly eliminated.
The alleged conspiracy involved at least 40 suspects, including senior officers such as Brigadier General M.A. Sadiq, and Colonel M.A. Ma’aji, as well as several lieutenant colonels drawn from signals, infantry, and special forces units.
Other named officers include Lieutenant Colonels A.A. Hayatu, P. Dangnap, M. Almakura, and S.M. Gana, as well asMajors and Captains embedded across various units.
Investigators say the network also included civilians positioned for support roles. Among them were Umoru Zekeri, identified as an electrician within the Presidential Villa; Ali Isah, an ambulance driver; and Nollywood actor Stanley Kingsley Amandi, allegedly recruited to coordinate propaganda efforts during the operation.
Mr Sylva and a retired major general have been named in connection with the network and are currently at large.
On Tuesday, Judge Yilwa heard to Michael Newman, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who represented two of Mr Sylva’s aides, Musa Muhammed and Anagha Pagannenghigha.
Mr Newman reminded the judge of the motion he filed on behalf of Mr Pagannenghigha on 28 February seeking an order for his release.
He said he was served “this morning with a counter-affidavit in reaction to the motion on notice.”
Nevertheless, he expressed readiness to proceed with the hearing.
Moving the motion, which hinged on 16 grounds, Mr Newman, who also cited a 20-paragraph supporting affidavit, urged the court to grant the application for an “immediate and unconditional release of the applicant in the interest of justice.”
