The treatment of military officers standing trial over an alleged coup plot to overthrow President Bola Tinubu has stirred outrage, with family members accusing Nigerian authorities of subjecting the detained soldiers to inhumane conditions.
They allege that the officers are being served inedible food, exposed to harmful radiation, denied adequate medical care, restricted from receiving family visits, and pressured to make confessions under duress.
The families alleged that the officers have been held under degrading conditions that have severely affected their physical and mental health, while expressing fears that the authorities are deliberately weakening them before the conclusion of the ongoing court-martial.
A top source familiar with the matter told SaharaReporters that the conditions under which the detained officers are being held have continued to deteriorate, alleging that the treatment appears aimed at breaking their spirits before the conclusion of their trial.
One family member alleged that the authorities were deliberately refusing to release one of the detained officers because he had repeatedly vowed to expose what was happening inside the detention facility.
“You know, because the way my father talks there, he’s always saying he’s going to expose, he’s going to say what is going on. They will not want to release him. That’s the problem,” the relative said.
The family member further alleged that the physical condition of the detained officers had deteriorated significantly during their prolonged incarceration.
According to the relative, the officers were allegedly kept “30 feet down,” where they suffered persistent dizziness, vomiting and worsening health conditions.
The relative also made the serious allegation that a radiation-emitting device had been placed inside the detention area, claiming that it had caused severe health complications among the detainees.
“There is this radiation put in their room. Some of them were losing their sight and other things like that,” the family member alleged.
The families also described the poor quality of the food allegedly being served to the detained officers, saying the meals were so bad that even dogs would refuse to eat them.
“The food they are giving them is so poor that even dogs would refuse to eat it. Honestly, I cannot eat that kind of food,” one family member said.
Describing a recent visit to the detention facility, the relative said the detainees were served watery soup that was barely edible, adding that the food was unfit for human consumption.
According to the families, the poor feeding forms part of a broader strategy to weaken the officers physically and psychologically in order to extract statements from them.
“They gave them a statement to read now and say, okay, they are the ones that made the statement. They were trying to use these old ways to force them to make a statement under duress that they are the ones that made the statement,” the family member alleged.
The relatives further expressed concerns over restrictions on legal representation and an atmosphere of intimidation surrounding the ongoing court-martial proceedings.
According to the family member, many lawyers have become unwilling to represent the detained officers because they fear intimidation.
“Many of these lawyers, they are just scared,” the relative said.
The allegations come amid continuing controversy surrounding the military trial of the officers accused of plotting to overthrow President Tinubu’s government.
SaharaReporters previously reported that the ongoing General Court Martial trying 36 Nigerian military personnel over an alleged plot to overthrow the government of President Tinubu was reportedly stalled after one of the defendants, identified as Captain M.L. Muhammad, collapsed while in detention.
Multiple security sources familiar with the proceedings told SaharaReporters that the trial could not continue following the incident involving the officer, who they alleged had been held in illegal and dehumanising detention facility operated by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).
According to the sources, Captain Muhammad reportedly collapsed after suffering severe medical complications while being held in a 30-foot underground confined detention facility.
The sources said that the officer experienced convulsions, repeated vomiting, seizures, and difficulty breathing, which they claimed resulted from prolonged exposure to radiation inside the detention facility.
A senior security source familiar with the matter told SaharaReporters that the officer’s condition forced the court proceedings initially scheduled for last Wednesday to be suspended.
The source further claimed that before he was removed from the facility, the officer had been experiencing severe health complications.
“He has been convulsing, vomiting, with seizures, difficulty in breathing, and all other kinds of illnesses. As I’m talking to you now, I don’t know whether he has given up or he is dead,” the source said.
The source noted that the medical emergency was caused by prolonged exposure to radiation while the officer was being held in the underground confinement.
“He has been convulsing, vomiting, with seizures, difficulty in breathing, and all other kinds of illnesses as a result of overexposure to the radiation in the confined illegal detention facility at the Defence Intelligence Agency,” the source said.
(SaharaReporters)