Nigerian military authorities have detained Nollywood filmmaker and actor Stanley Amandi in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow President Bola Tinubu’s government, deepening a widening national security investigation that has already swept up dozens of military officers and a serving police inspector.
Amandi, a director and former chairman of the Enugu State chapter of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), was arrested in September 2025, according to a report by PREMIUM TIMES.
He is alleged to have been recruited by suspected coup planners to serve as a propagandist in a scheme that security sources say included plans to assassinate President Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas.
His last activity on Instagram was recorded on September 19, 2025, shortly before his arrest.
The filmmaker’s detention emerged amid broader revelations earlier reported exclusively by SaharaReporters regarding the arrest of a police officer and multiple senior military personnel over the same alleged coup plot.
The police officer, identified as Inspector Ahmed Ibrahim from Taraba State, was arrested in Abuja by operatives of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and remains in custody.
Security sources say at least 35 commissioned military officers are currently detained, including an Army Brigadier General, two Colonels, five Lieutenant Colonels, one Wing Commander, eight Majors, one Lieutenant Commander, two Squadron Leaders, five Captains, and one Lieutenant. Ten non-commissioned officers are also in detention, among them a Warrant Officer, five Sergeants, one Corporal, and two Lance Corporals.
While one Army Captain, A. Yusuf, is from Osun State and Squadron Leader Zuzu of the Air Force is from Bayelsa State, the remaining detainees are predominantly from northern states, including the Federal Capital Territory. Officers have been identified from Nasarawa, Niger, Katsina, Kaduna, Plateau, Kano, Gombe, Bauchi, Kebbi, Jigawa, Zamfara, Taraba, Yobe, Kogi, Sokoto, and Adamawa.
In October 2025, SaharaReporters reported that DIA operatives carried out coordinated arrests of officers drawn from the Nigerian Army, Navy, and Air Force following weeks of covert surveillance. At the time, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) denied that the arrests were linked to any coup plot, describing the reports as misleading.
However, the narrative shifted in January 2026 after SaharaReporters disclosed that at least five detained officers had reportedly fallen ill in custody, with two collapsing due to deteriorating conditions. Sources alleged that some detainees were transferred from an initial DIA holding facility to an underground military cell in Abuja described as dark and poorly ventilated.
Families of the detainees have repeatedly raised alarm over what they describe as inhumane treatment, prolonged incommunicado detention, and denial of access to lawyers and relatives.
Several spouses said they were not informed of transfers between detention facilities and have been barred from visiting since the arrests
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The case has also drawn political attention following reports that military operatives raided the Maitama residence of former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, as part of the investigation. Sylva later confirmed the visit but rejected any link to the alleged plot, calling such claims politically motivated.
Despite earlier official denials, a statement issued Monday by the Defence Headquarters formally acknowledged that allegations of plotting to overthrow the government were among the findings against some of the detained officers, marking the first public confirmation by military authorities that a coup-related investigation is underway.
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