Nigerian government urges patience while plot facts checked

Nigeria's Information and Culture Minister Ike Obasi Mokelu said on Tuesday that Nigerians should be patient while the government carefully collated the facts on the coup plot it said it uncovered on Sunday, Nigerian radio reported.

It said Mokelu made his appeal in a statement issued in reaction to demands for information about the plot.

Intensive investigations were continuing, and the inquiry could be jeopardized if unverified information was supplied to the public, Mokelu said.

Undue haste to supply information must not be allowed to compromise the national interest or lead to a miscarriage of justice, he added.

The administration under General Sani Abacha was firmly in control, and its commitment to a successful implementation of the political transition programme had not changed, he said.

The authorities arrested a number of senior military officers as well as civilians following the alleged coup attempt.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.