As a lieutenant colonel, he took part from the conceptual stages of the 1983 military coup d'état which ousted the Second Nigerian Republic and installed to power Major-General Muhammadu Buhari.

[5] Akilu was strategically placed in the DMI as counterweight to Ambassador Mohammed Lawal Rafindadi, General Muhammadu Buhari’s ally in the national security structure.

[6][7] Akilu's role in the Directorate of Military Intelligence served as counter-intelligence to the National Security Organisation.

Akilu worked alongside General Aliyu Gusau in reorganising the security and intelligence apparatuses, in order to consolidate power for the military regime.

In 2003, at the Oputa Panel the report concluded: "General Haliru Akilu and Colonel A. K. Togun are accountable for the untimely death of Dele Giwa by letter bomb.