It was an incident that shocked the nation. A sitting military head of state had just been assassinated. It was the first and only time in the political evolution of the country. Ironically, General Murtala Ramat Muhammed was just 38 years at the time of his murder and tomorrow, February 13, this black day will be 38 years in history
If there was ever a time in Nigeria when politicians lived a life of simplicity, the idea probably lost its attraction following the assassination of the late General Murtala Ramat Muhammed on February 13, 1976. History has it that General Muhammed, for all his days since July 29, 1975 when he assumed office as the Head of State, til his death, continued to be driven in an official black Mercedes Benz saloon car and escorted by an Aide-de-Camp (ADC), an orderly and driver.
It was this low-profile lifestyle of General Muhammed that made assassinating him possible. On the day of his murder, he was said to have been driven by his driver alongside his ADC, Lt. Akintunde Akinsehinwa and his orderly who carried a pistol, the only visible sign of protection.
Unlike what obtains in today’s Nigeria, there was no siren-blaring, acrobatic and reckless-driving convoy. Small wonder, it took just a traffic controller, who while performing his statutory duty, stopped the lane on which the General’s car was at the time of the incident.
General Muhammed aside, two other targets were to be assassinated same day and almost at the same time. They were General Muhammed’s deputy, who was the Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, General Olusegun Obasanjo and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Theophilus Danjuma. While General Muhammed wasn’t as lucky, both Obasanjo and Danjuma lived to tell their part of the story.
Immediately the assassination of General Muhammed was confirmed, Lt. Col. B. Dimka had run to the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) to announce his “good tidings.” And what was it? “Fellow Nigerians, Murtala Muhammed’s deficiency has been detected. His government is now overthrown by young revolutionaries.” Lt. Col. Dimka, thinking the coup had succeeded, bragged on: “All the 19 military governors have no powers over the states they now govern. The states affairs will be run by military brigade commanders until further notice…” Unfortunately for him too, he didn’t live to reify his dream of ruling Africa’s most populous country.
Unlike his predecessor, General Yakubu Gowon, General Muhammed was considered tough, dogged and fearless. It is touted that he applied this characteristics in his resolved fight to rid the country of all form of corruption by some military governor-politicians under General Gowon, whom he said had “betrayed the trust and confidence reposed in them by the nation and betrayed the ethics of their profession.”
His fight against public sector corruption, led to mass dismissals and retirement of over 10,000 public officials on the grounds of inefficiency and corruption. As it is in modern Nigeria, many of those dismissed or retired were people regarded as highly placed, with connections in high places.
Perhaps, it could be said that the difference between General Muhammed and Nigeria’s current crop of leaders is that while the General was willing to make the hard decision for a greater and brighter tomorrow even though as a military regime, today’s leaders lack the political will to make hard choices that could better the lots of the country.
Since he was alleged to be performing more than his predecessor, General Gowon, whom he ousted also as military head of state, the question of what then, could have necessitated his assassination by Lt. Col. Dimka and co had continued to resonate? In a second near victory speech, which never got to be read, Dimka had said: “Fellow Nigerians… On the 29th July 1975 the Government of General Gowon was overthrown.
“Some of the reasons given for the change were: corruption; indecision; arrest and detention without trial; weakness on the part of the Head of State; maladministration in general and a host of other malpractice. Every honest Nigerian will agree with me that since the changeover of government, there has not been any physical development in the whole country generally.”
On the dismissals and retirements of public servants in the fight against corruption and inefficiency, Dimka’s speech read further: “All we have is arbitrary dismissal of innocent Nigerians who have contributed in no less amount to the building of this great nation… The sad point about it all is that those who initiated the retirement or dismissal exercise are the worst offenders. You will be informed about the ill-gotten wealth in my next announcement.”
“In view of what I have just said and a lot more which time will not permit me to mention, we the Young Revolutionaries have once again taken over the Government to save Murtala from total disgrace and prevent him from committing further blunders and totally collapsing the country before he runs away in the name of retirement to enjoy the huge fortune he got through bribe which he has now stored outside this country. I believe that charity should begin at home. Please stay by your radio for further announcements. We are all together,” so ended the speech that was never read.
One account of what transpired that ‘Black Friday’ had it that, a few hours after the first broadcast, before he could make the second speech, Lt. Col. Dimka and some of the rest coup plotters were dislodged from the radio station. On the orders of General Theophilus Danjuma, Colonel Ibrahim Babangida led a detachment of soldiers that stormed the NBC to dislodge Dimka and his men after a short but fierce gun battle.
Another account stated that, while Lt. Col. Dimka was making his first speech, after the murder of General Muhammed, General Danjuma who had survived as a result of fate, ordered Colonel Babangida, to go and dislodge Lt. Col. Dimka from the NBC. Colonel Babangida had returned to complain to General Danjuma that Lt. Col. Dimka didn’t want to leave the NBC premises.
A furious Danjuma was said to have re-ordered Babangida to go back, dislodge Dimka “and level the whole place, if necessary.” On getting back to the NBC, it is said that Dimka had escaped, without the opportunity of reading his second speech. Dimka was alleged to have gone to the British High Commission in Lagos in a bid to make contacts with Gowon who was in London on exile.
Remembering the life of General Muhammed comes with some lessons for Nigeria’s present leadership. One, which probably is the most important, is the late General’s “tough, dogged, and fearless” attributes, which are claimed to have been what distinguished him from General Gowon and endeared many of the rank and files in the military to him. Nigeria, like any country in the world, needs a leader that is not only decisive but fearless in fighting the many scourges of the nation, particularly corruption.
At the young age of 37, General Muhammed was already Nigeria’s number one citizen. At the time of his death, Chief Obafemi Awolowo who was born in 1909 was 67 years old; Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, born in 1904 was 72 years old and Sir Ahmadu Bello who was born in the year 1910 and assassinated during the 1966 coup would have been 66 years old were he to be alive then.
One lesson to be learned is that age doesn’t necessarily equate to successful leadership. If General Muhammed, alongside General Obasanjo and General Danjuma could have been leading the affairs of Africa’s biggest country at the time, those politicians who participated in that political dispensation, should be brave enough to relinquish power to the younger generations of today.
The fact that many of them currently remain in power suggests that they are not after the good of the nation whose youths have over time been deceived to be future leaders, ostensibly for the selfish purpose of retaining power.
SOURCE:www.thisdaylive.com
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