Lifestyle
Murtala Muhammed’s simplicity led to his assassination – Daughter
Aisha Muhammed, daughter of former Head of State, General Murtala Ramat Muhammed, has said her father’s simple lifestyle and leadership approach contributed to the ease with which he was assassinated.
Muhammed, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation, said this while speaking on ARISE News’ Morning Show on Monday.
Reflecting on her father’s leadership style on the 50th anniversary of his assassination, she said the late military leader embodied the values he preached, particularly accountability, responsibility and discipline.
She said her father believed corruption was a “cankerworm” capable of destroying society and did not merely speak against it but lived out his anti-corruption stance through his personal conduct and leadership style.
“I think his (late Muhammed’s) leadership style was clear. He led with clarity. He believed in accountability.
“He believed in responsibility, you know, and then, you know, we’re all very familiar with his anti-corruption stance, you know, and corruption was not something you sort of just talked about.
“He actually literally felt that it was a cankerworm that was going to destroy our society, and 50 years later, look at what has happened.
“But I also think that he felt that you had to embody the leadership, you know, in the way you yourself presented yourself,” Muhammed said.
According to her, Murtala Muhammed deliberately avoided the trappings of power, including heavy security details, motorcades and sirens, insisting on living like the ordinary Nigerian.
This lifestyle, she said, directly contributed to his assassination on February 13, 1976.
Aisha Muhammed noted that he was travelling in traffic like every other road user when the attack occurred.
“If you know, my father didn’t go around with motorcades and sirens and a lot of security. Now, there are people who say to me, 50 years later, it must have been quite painful because of the loss, but that was what he embodied.
“So, and that was why it was actually easy to assassinate him, because he didn’t have a whole slew of security with him.
“He was in traffic just like everybody else. In fact, the traffic wardens stopped them, and they stopped, just like everybody else, and that was when the coup plotters came out from behind the sectarian barricade, and then he was shot,” she said.
General Muhammed seized power in a bloodless coup in July 1975, ousting General Yakubu Gowon.
FILE: General Murtala Ramat Muhammed
He was, however, assassinated during an abortive coup on February 13, 1976, barely six months after assuming office as Nigeria’s Head of State.
During his brief 200-day tenure, Muhammed implemented sweeping reforms, including the dismissal of over 10,000 public officials accused of corruption, the creation of seven new states, and plans for a transition to civilian rule.
His administration also initiated the process that led to the relocation of Nigeria’s capital from Lagos to Abuja.
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