Murtala Ramat Muhammad: The iconic tributes to the General who redefined power in Nigeria
Lt. General Olusegun Obasanjo, Colonel Muhammadu Buhari, and Colonel Shehu Musa Yar’Adua at a Federal Executive Council meeting in Dodan Barracks, observing prayers for the late Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed.
General Murtala Mohammed was assassinated on Friday, February 13, 1976, during a failed coup attempt in Lagos.
He lost his life alongside his Aide-de-Camp, Lt. Akintunde Akinsehinwa.
On that same day, the Military Governor of Kwara State, Colonel Ibrahim Taiwo, was also killed in Ilorin in connection with the abortive coup.
A defining moment in Nigeria’s military and political history one that reshaped the nation’s leadership.
ON the morning of February 13, 1976, gunfire shattered the calm of Lagos and altered the course of Nigeria’s history.
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In traffic near the Federal Secretariat in Ikoyi, Nigeria’s Head of State, Murtala Ramat Muhammad, sat in his car like every other commuter.
He did not travel with a long convoy. He did not clear the roads with sirens. Within minutes, he was dead, 37 years old and barely 200 days in office.
Half a century later, as Nigeria reflects on that fateful Friday, the story of the young general who ruled in a hurry remains one of the most dramatic and consequential chapters in the nation’s history.
Despite that short span, he left a legacy so enduring that half a century later, his name still resonates across Nigeria and Africa.
READ ALSO: How Gen Murtala Mohammed was killed by Dimka
His tomb in Kano remains a pilgrimage site, where prayers are offered for him every Friday. For many Nigerians, his brief rule remains a benchmark of integrity and patriotism.
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