This question above was put on social media (FB) by Azuka Jebose and it elicited reactions, some sweet, many mild, others hostile. On 13 February, it was 42 years since Murtala Mohammed, a former head of state was assassinated by a band of coupists in Ikoyi, Lagos.
To Friday Igbinova, Murtala Mohammed was the best leader Nigeria has ever produced. Also, Gbenga J Ojewoye saw his reign as the beginning and end of the greatest leader.
Nelly Agwu reminisced that he ran back home from school on the news that Dimka has killed him. The pioneer film maker, Eddie Ugbomah revealed: “I made a film on him.” On his own part, Zeb Ejiro asked: The question is where is Nigeria today? Abdul Oroh, a lawyer and one time commissioner in Edo State said Mohammed “set us on the path to democracy and launched the first war on corruption. He bequeathed a legacy of progressive foreign policy and made Nigeria to stand tall. May his soul rest in peace.”
Leon Kaleta Ligan-majek said he was working with Petrocchi opposite NEPA when “we saw and heard sirene and military trucks moving along Eko Bridge toward Elegbata Apongbon streets.” Odunikan Olanrewaju revealed that he remembered vividly this ncident, “I was in form 2 at Comprehensive high school aye toro Ogun state , we had a mid term break because of the nationwide curfew , l could not travel back to Lagos for the short holiday, how time plays out!” Elue E Chibs revealed: “We were on our way from school in a car with my mother and elder siblings, there was confusion and panic all over and our car was hit by another car just before the Ojuelegba bridge. The owner of the other car? A man named Ojukwu!” Olubunmi Iyabo Akinkugbe saw Mohammed’s rule as the first attempt at fighting corruption in Nigeria.
However, others came out smoking with anger! Emmanuel Ike Okonta waved Mohammed off as a criminal who, with his gang, “massacred our people in Anioma particularly in Asaba and they have still not apologized for their wrong doing.”
Also Wordshot Amaechi Ugwele said: “I was too young to remember much. However, with the benefit of history, much of which now is under official suppression though, I can say that there is really no difference between him and those that came after him in what they thought of and did to the Igbo. His massacring of Asaba people was unexcusable as it remains so today. So, I’m still reluctant in embracing his heroism.” For Renny Nwosa, Mohammed would have been a great leader but for the blood of innocent Asaba indigenes on his head, while the poet, Uzor Maxim Uzoatu, the former military head of state would be remembered for “looting Central Bank, Benin branch!”
Tee Mac Iseli, musician, remembered what happened too: “Yes I remember him well. Coming to Batakoto on a Friday evening with the late MKO Abiola to listen to me and my Afro Collection. He made his deal with MKO thereafter to pay outstanding moneys to ITT, the rest is history!” George Odia Mass dismissed Mohammed as an executioner of innocent Asaba people ! Jones Usen said the late leader bequeathed a dysfunctional civil service to us. What again. He had wanted to be Head Of State in place of his senior, Yakubu Gowon. And that is what is known as inordinate or excessive ambition. Myke Pam One accused Mohammed of being one of the deadliest killers ever! Killed a lot of defenseless Igbo people of the Midwest! He was the brain behind the countercoup of July 66. His tacit and unrelenting support of the pogrom and genocide of 1966/67 is still on my mind! He lived by the sword and died by the same sword!
Murtala Mohammed, according to Wikipedia
Murtala Muhammed was born on 8 November 1938, one of eleven children of Risqua Muhammed and Uwani Rahamat in Kano, Nigeria. He was educated at Cikin Gida and Gidan Makama primary schools in Kano, attending the famous Government College (now Barewa College) in Zaria, where he obtained his school certificate in 1957.
Military career
Murtala Muhammed joined the Nigerian Army in 1958. Muhammed was trained as an officer cadet at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy in England. After his training, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1961 and assigned to the Nigerian Army Signals that same year.
In 1961, Muhammed was appointed aide-de-camp (ADC) to M. A. Majekodunmi, the federally-appointed administrator of the Western Region.
In 1963, he became the officer-in-charge of the First Brigade Signal Troop in Kaduna, Nigeria. That year he traveled to the Royal Corps of Signals at Catterick Garrison, England for a course on advanced telecommunications techniques.
On his return to Nigeria in 1964, he was promoted to major and appointed officer-commanding, 1st Signal Squadron in Apapa, Lagos. In November 1965, he was made acting Chief of Signals of the Army. In January 1966 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and was the inspector of signals in Lagos.
At the start of the Nigerian Civil War, he led the newly established 2nd Infantry Division for which he was made the first General Officer Commanding in August 1967. In March 1968, he was redeployed to Lagos and was appointed Inspector of Signals. In April 1968 he was promoted to colonel.
Between 1970 and 1971, he attended the Joint Service Staff College in England. After the war, he was promoted to brigadier-general in October 1971. On 7th August 1974, the head of state, General Yakubu Gowon appointed him as the new Federal Commissioner for Communications, which he combined with his military duties as Inspector of Signals at the Army Signals Headquarters in Apapa, Lagos.
On 29th July 1975, General Yakubu Gowon was overthrown while attending the 12th summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Kampala, Uganda. Muhammed took power as the new Military Head of State.
On Friday 13 February 1976, Muhammed set off for work along his usual route on George Street. Shortly after 8 a.m. his Mercedes Benz car traveled slowly in the infamous Lagos traffic near the Federal Secretariat at Ikoyi in Lagos and a group of soldiers (members of an abortive coup led by Dimka) emerged from an adjacent petrol station, ambushed the vehicle and assassinated Muhammed.