General Murtala Muhammed 1938 – 1976
Murtala Muhammed was born to Muhammed Riskuwa and Uwani Rahamatu on November 8, 1938 in Kano , Northern Region of Nigeria.
Mohammed attended Cikin Gida Elementary and Gidan Makama Primary schools, both in Kano. He also briefly attended Kano Middle School.
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In 1957, he obtained his school certificate from Government College in Zaria, where he was a part of the Cadet Corps. He was the shooting captain in his final year.
Military career
Murtala Muhammed joined the Nigerian Army in 1958. He trained in Nigeria and Ghana and later as an officer cadet at world-famous Sandhurst Royal Military Academy.
After his training in 1961, he became second lieutenant and assigned to the Nigerian Army Signals in 1961. A few years later, he attended the Royal Corps of Signals in England and studied a course in advanced telecommunications techniques.
By this time, he had already served with the 3rd Brigade Signals Troop in Congo, and as aide-de-camp to the administrator of the Western Region.
He became the officer-in-charge of the First Brigade Signal Troop in Kaduna. He was promoted to Major and appointed officer-commanding, 1st Signal Squadron in Apapa, Lagos. In November 1965, he became acting Chief of Signals of the Army.
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Muhammed became Lieutenant-Colonel in April 1966. He was posted to Army Headquarters in Lagos and also appointed member of a Post and Telecommunications management committee.
The counter-coup of July 1966 led to the installation of Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon as Head of State. Muhammed wanted the role himself, however Gowon was militarily his senior.
Murtala’s role in the Nigerian Civil War
As General Commanding Officer of the 2nd Infantry Division, his conduct came under scrutiny and he was implicated in several allegations of misconduct.
He became Colonel in April 1968. However, he relinquished his commanding position two months later and took up a position in Lagos as Inspector of Signals.
He attended the Joint Service Staff College in England between 1970 and 1971 and promoted to Brigadier-General in October 1971. For the next few years, Murtala carried out routine activities within his signals unit and until his appointment as Federal Commissioner for Communications in August 1974.
Murtala Muhammed as Head of State
On 29 July 1975, General Yakubu Gowon was overthrown while attending the 12th summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Uganda.
Muhammed seized power and took federal control of all the country’s media and the state-run universities.
The masses considered Murtala Muhammed to be charismatic and decisive and these qualities and his policies won him popular support.
Reorientation, Strategy & Development
He reorganized and demobilized troops from the armed forces; decreasing the number of troops from 250,000 to 150,000.
The Murtala Muhammed administration identified indiscipline within the Nigerian civil service and implemented a retrenchment exercise as part of a plan to refocus.
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Due to increasing overcrowding in Lagos, Muhammed initiated plans to build a new Federal Capital Territory for which he set up a panel. That panel chose Abuja as the future location of a new capital.
He renamed some states and created new ones, bringing the total number of states to nineteen.
In a bid to reduce inflation and keep public spending contained, Murtala Muhammed announced that his government would encourage the rapid expansion of the private sector. He also revisited Nigeria’s foreign policy, promoting a ‘Nigeria first’ orientation.
The Assassination of Murtala Muhammed
As General Muhammed was on his way to work on 13 February 1976, a group of soldiers emerged, ambushed his vehicle and assassinated him, along with his aide-de-camp.
Murtala Muhammed was married to Ajoke and they had six children – Aisha, Zakari, Fatima, Abba, Zeliha and Jummai.
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Uyi Ojo
05/01/2021 at 1:55 pmMurtala Muhammed was a true legend. The best out of the military leaders we’ve had.