The daughter of former Nigeria’s Military Head of State, General Murtala Muhammed, has stated what led to the assassination of her father.
Aisha Muhammed, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation, made the revelation today, while on ARISE Television’s News’ Morning Show
The lady who was reflecting on the leadership role of her father in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of his assassination, said his simple lifestyle was a factor in his elimination.
She described him as a man with a different leadership approach, saying this made it easier for the assassins to get him.
“My father didn’t go around with motorcades and sirens and a lot of security…. 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.
Muhammed said her late father was also known for his anti-corruption stance, which did not auger well with some in the society.
“He actually literally felt that it was a cankerworm that was going to destroy our society.
“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.
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The simplicity lifestyle which made him shun detailed security, she reasoned, was a major reason for his elimination by the assassins.
The Eagle reports that General Murtala Muhammed was assassinated on 13 February 1976, along with his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Akintunde Akinsehinwa, and his driver, Sergeant Adamu Michika, in his black Mercedes, in the midst of an abortive coup led by Lt. Col. Bukar Suka Dimka, He was aged 37.
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