The
assassination of General Murtala Mohammed 40 years ago in an attempted coup was
a grievous blow to Nigeria as it stopped the country’s newly found momentum.
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| Gen. Murtala Ramat Muhammed |
General Murtala Ramat Muhammed (November 8,
1938 – February 13, 1976) was the military ruler (Head of the Federal
Military Government) of Nigeria from 1975 until his assassination in 1976.
Early life and education
Muhammed was born Murtala Rufai Muhammed (he changed his
name from Rufai to Ramat[1] when he became
Head of State) in Kano on November 8, 1938 into the Gynawa clan of the Fulani
and attended Barewa College Zaria where he was
classmates with officers such as Muhammed
Shuwa.[2] Muhammed joined
the Nigerian Army
in 1958[3] and was
enrolled at the Regular Officers Special Training School in Teshie,
Ghana
where one of his instructors in military tactics and military law was Emeka Ojukwu, then a Nigerian officer on
secondment to the Officer Training School.[4] Muhammed
received his officer training at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst,
UK as a regular combatant and underwent subsequent courses in Signals.[1] He was
commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1961 [1] and was posted
to Congo where he served with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force.[5] Upon his
return from the Congo in 1962 he was appointed Aide-de-camp to the
Administrator of the Western Region, Moses
Majekodunmi.[6]
Role during 1960s coups
Muhammed opposed the regime of Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi which took power
after a coup d'etat on January 15, 1966. Aguiyi-Ironsi,
as GOC of the Nigerian Army, brought normality back to the nation by
imprisoning the coup makers and intimidating the federal cabinet into handing
over the helms of government to him. However, Many northerners saw this and the
reluctance of Ironsi to prosecute the coup leaders, and the fact that the army
was purportedly giving exceptional privileges to the coupist as an indication
of Ironsi's support for the killings. Consequently, northern politicians and
civil servants mounted pressure upon northern officers such as Muhammed to
avenge the coup. In the night of July 29, 1966, northern soldiers at Abeokuta
barracks mutinied, thus precipitating a counter-coup, which may very well have
been in the planning stages. The counter-coup led to the installation of
Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon as Supreme Commander of the
Nigerian Armed Forces, despite the intransigence of Muhammed who wanted the
role of Supreme Commander for himself. However, as Gowon was militarily his
senior, and finding a lack of support from the British and American advisors, he
caved in. Gowon rewarded him by confirming his ranking (he had been an acting
Lt. Colonel till then) and his appointment (Inspector of Signals).
Nigerian civil war and role in the
Asaba Massacre
During the Nigerian Civil War, Muhammed was General Officer
Commanding (GOC) of the Nigerian Army's 2nd Division. This
division was responsible for the legendary beating back of the Biafran Army
from the midwestern region, as well as crossing the River Niger and linking up
with the 1st Division, which was marching down from Nsukka and Enugu.
Lieutenant Ishola Williams, an officer who served under then Colonel Muhammed
alleged that Muhammed ordered the summary execution of Biafran prisoners of
war.[7] Professors
Bird and Ottanelli in a study titled "The History and Legacy of the Asaba,
Nigeria, Massacres" document the mass murder of civilians (often referred
to as the Asaba Massacre) by troops of the 2nd Division
under Colonel Murtala Muhammed.[8]
Muhammed's encounter with disaster during the war
happened shortly after, as he attempted to cross the River Niger to Biafra.
Despite the recommendation of his superiors at Army Headquarters in Lagos that
he wait for the bridge, which had been blown up by the retreating Biafran
forces, to be rebuilt, he insisted on a riverine crossing. Twice he was beaten
back, but he steadfastly kept resolve and finally made it through on his third
attempt. Shortly after this, Muhammed fed up with reprimands from Army HQ,
decided to quit his command and left for an extended holiday in the United
Kingdom, but not before threatening to resign his commission. His historic
military feats during the war won him National acclaim and respect even from
his adversaries.
Head of state
On July 30, 1975, Brigadier (later
General) Muhammed was made head of state, when General Gowon was overthrown
while at an Organization of African Unity (OAU) summit
in Kampala, Uganda.[9] Brigadiers
Obasanjo (later Lt.General) and Danjuma (later Lt.General) were appointed as
Chief of Staff, Supreme HQ and Chief of Army Staff, respectively.In the coup
d'état that brought him to power he introduced the phrases "Fellow
Nigerians" and "with immediate effect" to the national lexicon.[10] In a short
time, Murtala Muhammed's policies won him broad popular support, and his
decisiveness elevated him to the status of a folk hero.[11]
One of his first acts was to scrap the 1973 census, which
was weighted in favor of the north, and to revert to the 1963 count for
official purposes. Murtala Muhammad removed top federal and state officials to
break links with the Gowon regime and to restore public confidence in the
federal government. More than 10,000 public officials and employees were
dismissed without benefits, on account of age, health, incompetence, or
malpractice. The purge affected the civil service, judiciary, police and armed
forces, diplomatic service, public corporations, and universities. Some
officials were brought to trial on charges of corruption. He also began the
demobilization of 100,000 troops from the swollen ranks of the armed forces.
Twelve of the 25 ministerial posts on the new Federal Executive Council
went to civilians, but the cabinet was secondary to the executive Supreme Military Council.
Muhammad imposed the authority of the federal government in areas formerly
reserved for the states, restricting the latitude exercised by state
governments and their governors in determining and executing policy. Newly
appointed military governors of the states were not given seats on the Supreme
Military Council, but instead were expected to administer federal policies
handed down by Muhammad through the military council. The federal government
took over the operation of the country's two largest newspapers, made
broadcasting a federal monopoly, and brought remaining state-run universities
under federal control.
Murtala Muhammad initiated a comprehensive review of the
Third National Development Plan. Singling out inflation
as the greatest danger to the economy, he was determined to reduce the money supply
that had been swollen by government expenditures on public works. Muhammad also
announced that his government would encourage the rapid expansion of the
private sector into areas dominated by public corporations. He reappraised
foreign policy, stressing a "Nigeria first" orientation in line with OPEC price guidelines that
was to the disadvantage of other African countries. Nigeria became "neutral"
rather than "nonaligned" in international affairs.
The shift in orientation became apparent with respect to Angola.
Nigeria had worked with the OAU to bring about a negotiated reconciliation of the warring
factions in the former Portuguese colony, but late in 1975 Murtala Muhammad announced
Nigeria's support for the Soviet-backed Popular Movement for the Liberation
of Angola, citing South Africa's
armed intervention on the side of the rival National Union for the Total
Independence of Angola (UNITA). The realignment strained relations with the United States,
which argued for the withdrawal of Cuban troops and Soviet advisers from Angola. In October the
Nigerian Air Force took delivery of Soviet-built aircraft that had been ordered
under Gowon.
Assassination
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| Car in which Murtala Muhammed was assassinated |
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Murtala Muhammed was killed, aged 37, along with his
Aide-De-Camp (ADC), Lieutenant Akintunde Akinsehinwa in his black
Mercedes Benz saloon car on, February 13, 1976 in an abortive coup attempt led
by Lt. Col Buka Suka Dimka, when his car was ambushed
while en route his office at Dodan
Barracks, Lagos.
The only visible sign of protection was a pistol carried by his orderly,
therefore making his assassination an easy task. He was succeeded by the Chief
of Staff, Supreme HQ Olusegun Obasanjo, who completed his plan of an
orderly transfer to civilian rule by handing power to Shehu Shagari
on October 1, 1979.
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| N20 NOTE |
Today, his portrait adorns the 20 Naira note and Murtala Muhammed International
Airport in Lagos is named in his honor.
