Abuja: Nigerian prosecutors on Tuesday charged six people over a coup plot foiled by authorities last year, according to documents filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The government had initially denied the existence of the alleged coup, before announcing in January that the military would try several officers for planning a putsch.
If successful, a coup would have brought an end to a quarter-century of democracy in Africa's most populous country.
The six charged in federal court Tuesday, including a retired major general, were accused of conspiring "with one another to levy war against the State to overawe the President of the Federal Republic", according to prosecutors.
It was unclear whether the charges filed in the Federal High Court would run alongside or in addition to the military prosecutions, which have yet to commence.
The charges named retired major general Mohammed Ibrahim Gana, retired captain Erasmus Ochegobia Victor, Inspector Ahmed Ibrahim, Zekeri Umoru, Bukar Kashim Goni and Abdulkadir Sani.
The six were also accused of knowing that Colonel Mohammed Alhassan Ma'aji "and others intended to commit treason" and did not alert authorities.
It was unclear if that meant that prosecutors were naming Ma'aji as the coup leader.
The six were also accused of conspiring "with one another to commit an act of terrorism" and of "indirectly" but "knowingly" rendering "support" to Ma'aji "and others to commit an act of terrorism".
Since independence from Britain in 1960, Nigeria has witnessed a string of successful military coups until civilian rule was restored in 1999.
