Nigeria probes 'security breach'
A "considerable" number of Nigerian military officers have been arrested following "serious breaches of security," officials say. 

Presidential spokeswoman Remi Oyo told the BBC that the investigation follow rumours of a coup plot. 

Ms Oyo would not give the number of officers and civilians arrested. 

Nigeria has often been ruled by the military (PHOTO)
Nigeria has frequently been ruled by the military, but returned to civilian rule in 1999 with the election of President Olusegun Obasanjo. 

Military intelligence 

Ms Oyo said there was "no danger whatsoever; this president is firmly in charge." 

She told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that she could not reveal the nature of the alleged offences. 

"I am not at liberty to say what kind of allegations they are, we will leave that to the intelligence community which I do not belong to but what is important to say that they are being investigated alongside civilian collaborators," Ms Oyo said. 

She confirmed that the former head of security for the late military ruler, Sani Abacha, Hamza al-Mustapha, is involved in the incident. 

Mr al-Mustapha was seized from prison by police earlier this week and handed to military intelligence. 

During Abacha's rule, Mr al-Mustapha was considered Nigeria's second most powerful official. 

In 1998, he was charged in 1998 with ordering the murder of Kudirat Abiola, the wife of opposition politician Chief Moshood Abiola. 

The BBC's Mannir Dan-Ali in Abuja says military officials want to question him over his involvement in the alleged coup plot. 

The Nigerian Prisons Service said on Thursday that Mr al-Mustapha had been released to agents of the Directorate of Military Intelligence for questioning on "matters of national security," reports AFP news agency. 

"This coup allegation is just a ploy to keep him behind bars, " Mr al-Mustapha's brother Hadi told AFP at the family home in the northern city of Kano. 

'Unease' 

BBC Africa analyst Liz Blunt says that if there was some kind of coup plot afoot, there is still no indication of who might have been conspiring against President Obasanjo or why. 

But she says there is a sense of unease in Nigeria. 

The president has not been able to stop a series of ethnic clashes in various parts of the country, or the vicious political infighting within his own party. 

And despite high oil prices, daily life is still difficult for Nigerians, including soldiers, who have been complaining about delays in receiving their pay. 

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