Murtala Mohammed: 40 Years After
Four decades after the late Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed, was gruesomely assassinated in a coup d’état that later failed, Nigeria still battles to address the socio-economic and political maladies that he and members of his Supreme Military Cou
February 13, 1976 was, indeed, a dark day for Nigerians at home and in Diaspora. It was the day a team of young officers in the Nigerian Armed Forces carried out a sinister plot to assassinate the Head of State. Citing corruption and maladministration, among other reasons, the officers led by Col. Buka Suka Dimka had struck, to the shock of the whole country.
End of an Era
As designed, the coup summarily ended the administration and life of the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, General Murtala Ramat Mohammed. It also claimed the lives of Murtala’s Aidede-Camp, Lt. Akintunde Akinshehinwa, the Military Governor of Kwara State, Col. Ibrahim Taiwo, and some other military officers.
By implication, the hope of Murtala’s public service reforms was almost dashed. His comprehensive programme for political reform, which proposed to transfer power democratically on October 1, 1979 almost failed. Likewise, Murtala’s promise to give Nigeria a new lease of life almost went down the drain.
But several hours after the young revolutionaries struck, the coup was foiled by forces loyal to Murtala’s administration. An artillery unit under the command of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida made prompt intervention and eventually saved the day. Alongside Dimka, Maj. Ibrahim Rabo, Lt. William and Captain Malaki Parwan, among others, who played a major role in the coup, were subsequently rounded up, court-martialed and executed.
Four decades have passed and three coup d’états have occurred in the country after Dimka’s failed attempt. Even though Murtala was assassinated precisely on his 200th day in office, his successor, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, kept his political reform programme on trackive. As originally planned, the Murtala/Obasanjo administration formally handed over to a democratically elected government on October 1, 1979.
Background
Born November 8, 1938 in the Kurawa Quarters of Kano State to Risqua and Ramatu Muhammed, Murtala attended Cikin Gida Primary School, Kano, and Barewa College, Zaria. After his secondary education, he joined the Nigerian Army in 1958 and enrolled at the Regular Officers Special Training School in Teshie, Ghana.
In what formed one of paradoxes in Murtala’s life and career, Col. Chukwemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, former Military Governor of the Eastern Region and the leader of Biafra secessionist movement, taught Murtala military tactics and military law in Ghana. Odumegwu-Ojukwu was then seconded to the Officer Training School as a Nigerian officer.
Murtala underwent officer training at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, United Kingdom, as a regular combatant. At Sandhurst, Murtala had courses in signals, which placed him as one of Nigeria’s foremost signal officers. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1961 and was posted to Congo on a peace mission. On his return in 1962, he was appointed Aide-de-camp to the Administrator of the Western Region, Dr. Moses Majekodunmi
But the coup d’état of January 15, 1966 brought Murtala on a collision course with Odumegwu-Ojukwu, his instructor in military tactics and laws at Teshie, Ghana. Like all northern elements in the Nigeria Armed Forces at the time, Murtala openly opposed the regime of Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, which took power after the coup. Murtala’s opposition was based on a premise that Ironsi’s reluctance to prosecute the coup leaders, among other reasons, was an indication of his support for the killings that followed the coup.
On July 29, 1966, northern soldiers at Abeokuta Barracks staged a mutiny, thereby precipitating a counter-coup. The countercoup culminated in the overthrow of Ironsi’s regime and the emergence of Gen. Yakubu Gowon as the Head of State and Supreme Commander of the Nigeria Armed Forces. Murtala’s role in the installation and overthrow of Gowon marked another paradox in his life and military career.
Murtala played both strategic and tactical roles in the Nigerian Civil War. He was General Officer Commanding (GOC) the Nigerian Army’s Second Division. According to a report, the division was specifically responsible for the legendary beating back of the Biafran Army from the Mid-West Region, as well as crossing the River Niger and linking up with the First Division, which was marching down from Nsukka and Enugu.
After the civil war, Murtala served under the Gowon administration in different capacities. He fell out with Gowon, citing his failure to transit the country to democratic rule almost one decade after taking over power. Among other reasons, Murtala cited the 1973 census, which was “weighted in favour of the North and planned to revert to the 1963 count for official purposes.”
On July 30, 1975, Murtala tactically edged out Gowon from office in a largely bloodless coup d’état, when Gowon was at an Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit in Kampala, Uganda. As revealed in diverse accounts, Murtala removed top federal and state officials to break links with the Gowon regime, restore public confidence in the federal government, and set his reform programme in motion.
Mission
Murtala had been described as a general on a mission. His mission was not only contained in his maiden speech, but he swung into action soon after becoming Head of State to implement the reform programmes he identified. As shown in the speech, Gowon’s failure to return the country to democracy was Murtala’s foremost reason for the coup d’état.
Just after he had firmly established his regime, Murtala launched a political reform programme. According to the programme, he “set promptly 1st October, 1979 as the terminal date of military rule,” though Dimka’s military intervention almost dashed the hope of returning political power “to a democratically elected government on the set date.”
Murtala set up the Federal Executive Council (FEC), with 12 of the 25 ministerial posts held by civilians. But the FEC was secondary to the Supreme Military Council. He imposed federal authority in areas reserved for the states, thus, restricting the latitude exercised by the states. His policies were considered disruptive to Nigerian federal system, given the manner the states were virtually reduced to administering federal policies.
State Creation
As proof of his commitment to the country and its citizens, Murtala yielded to the demand for the creation of more states. In a national broadcast, the late leader stated that the exercise was done in the national interest and no troublemakers should demonstrate for or against the creation of the new states. He announced the creation of seven additional states, then bringing the country’s federating units to 19.
As indicated in reports, Murtala approached the country’s problems with “single-mindedness. Gowon’s military governors were sacked, some of them tried for corruption and their ill-gotten wealth confiscated. Aside from charging some officials for corruption, he began demobilisation of 100,000 troops from the swollen ranks of the armed forces.”
Purge
One report indicated that Murtala “carried out a massive purge that affected the civil service, diplomatic service, the judiciary, public corporations, the police and armed forces. More than 10,000 public officials and employees were dismissed without benefits, on account of age, health, incompetence, or malpractice.”
As the report indicated, Murtala brought “broadcasting under federal control, cancelled the 1973 census and began to review the Third National Development plan.” Besides, Murtala named a committee “to choose a new location for a new Federal Capital Territory, which recommended Abuja. Murtala’s administration was a perfect example of how the economic, political and social well-being of a country could impact its international status.”
Murtala’s idea of Africa was captured in an address he delivered during an extraordinary session of the OAU on January 11, 1976 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Precisely 32 days to his assassination, Murtala openly criticised Western powers seeking to reinforce colonialism and racism in Africa.
In his address, Murtala said, “Africa has come of Age.” It was a call “to action against apartheid and colonial rule.” He also called for unity of purpose and his regime provided strategic financial and material assistance “to freedom fighters all across Africa.” Of course, Murtala’s speech indeed alarmed the West. However, Murtala did not live to lead the battle against apartheid and racism in Africa.
Four Decades After
It was 40 years yesterday since Murtala was assassinated. His programmes for political reform were not really disrupted. The Murtala/Obasanjo administration successfully handed over political power to former President Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria on October 1, 1979. But the democratic rule was interrupted four years after.
Nigeria has witnessed three different coups after Dimka’s failed coup. From the Muhammadu Buhari regime in 1983 to the Ibrahim Babangida regime in 1985 and the Sani Abacha regime in 1993, Nigeria had been politically disoriented and democratically confused. After Abacha’s sudden death in 1998, the regime of Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar handed over political power to a democratically elected civilian government 11 months after.
But what has really changed after all these hitches and progresses?
Buhari is back to the seat of power exactly 32 years after his regime was overthrown. But what Buhari’s democratic administration is currently preoccupied in is not different from the socio-economic and political malaise the Murtala/Obasanjo administration sought to address between 1976 and 1979. The regime effectively fought corruption. It also set mechanism in place for successful democratic transition.
Besides, the Murtala/Obasanjo regime carried out comprehensive public service reforms, though the exercise had been adjudged in different fora as an albatross to the country’s public service. It finally conducted elections into different offices from the local government to the state and federal levels. Although, many of the polls were enmeshed in controversies that led to protracted electoral litigations.
Eventually, it transferred political power to a democratically elected government on October 1, 1979.
However, nothing has really changed four decades after. Nigeria is still struggling with distressing cases of corruption; the public service remains unbelievably perverse and dislocated, and the level of national patriotism is very low.
Political parties are operating without specific convictions and defined ideology and are largely held together by the pecuniary interests of politicians.
These were some of the issues the Murtala/Obasanjo regime sought to resolve 40 years ago.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said recently that the political elite “are asking the Buhari administration to slow down its anti-corruption war.” Osinbajo’s statement confirms that Nigeria is, indeed, still challenged by graver cases of the issues the Murtala regime had grappled with.