The Nigerian military has denied reports that the country's presidential guards have been placed on high alert due to an alleged coup plot against President Bola Tinubu.
Nigeria's Defence Headquarters has strongly condemned the ''suspicion of coup plot'' as ''malicious and unfounded''.
It particularly refuted an article in one of the country's biggest online news platforms claiming that the presidential guards known as the Guards Brigade had been put on high alert following unusual movements.
''The Defence Headquarters wishes to categorically state that the allegation is totally false,'' it added in a statement on Sunday.
A wave of coups
The Nigerian military has vowed to ''take appropriate'' action against the media outfit because the publication had ''the ulterior motive of creating unnecessary tension in the country.''
This is not the first time the Nigerian military has come out to restate its commitment to defend the country's democracy as West Africa deals with a wave of coups.
Since 2020, several military coups have taken place in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Guinea in West Africa as well as in the Central African nation of Gabon. All these countries are currently led by juntas.
ECOWAS approach
Bola Tinubu was inaugurated as Nigerian president in May last year after winning an election three months earlier and has been vocal about defending democracy in West Africa in the face of growing concerns over coups.
Nigeria is Africa's largest democracy. Tinubu is the current leader of the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, which has been struggling to address the aftermath of the coups in the region.
After an extraordinary summit in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Saturday, the regional bloc announced the lifting of economic sanctions it had imposed on junta-led countries in an apparent move to make peace with them amid simmering tensions.
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