General Murtala Mohammed: Forty Years On- By Femi Fani-Kayode | Welcome to Linda Ikeji's Blog

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Saturday 13 February 2016

General Murtala Mohammed: Forty Years On- By Femi Fani-Kayode

If there was one man that had a profound effect on our history, perhaps more than any other, it was Gen. Murtala Ramat Mohammed. Sadly he was assassinated 40 years ago, on February 13th 1976. In a clime and a nation in which there are few true heroes, he was certainly one of them.

 
I could write a whole book on this man. It is a pity that the younger generation of Nigerians don't know much about him or about what he did and achieved for our nation both before and after he became Head of State in 1975. Forty years after his murder his name still brings joy and admiration to his associates, friends and loved ones and terror and trepidation to his detractors and foes.

Of all the former Heads of State and leaders in our country I admire him the most. His courage, focus, brazenness, righteous anger, strength of character, bellicose nature, passion and ability to take the bull by the horns and do what needed to be done, no matter whose ox was gored and no matter what the consequences were, was exemplary and outstanding. 
In these days of cowardice, guile, deceit, doublespeak, subterfuge and political correctness, Mohammed would not have found much pleasure or joy and neither would he have been fully appreciated. He was blunt, fearless and irrepressible and, as they say, he was ''as tough as nails''. He was all that a real warrior ought to be. Most important of all he was inspirational: he scorned death and he had no fear of it. 
 
What a man this was: truly the first among equals. He was a living example of the veracity of the adage that says "who dares wins". His life was a manifestation of the fact that truly "fortune favors the bold". Our domestic policy under his watch brought positive and monumental changes to the fortunes of our country and the character of our people. Our foreign policy under him, throughout the six months that he was Head of State, was a sight to be seen. It was Nigeria at her proudest and her best.

In those days we were rich, loud and boisterous. We could boast of having Africa's strongest army and her most outstanding and best- educated middle class. We were big, strong and powerful and when Nigeria spoke the world listened. When we sneezed Africa literally caught a cold. When we roared, the world shook. We wielded this great power and influence on the world stage with immense dazzle and razzmatazz.  Yet we were also cautious, restrained and deemed as being highly responsible. That is when Nigeria was regarded as the Giant of Africa and rightly so.

Without General Murtala Mohammed the eventual liberation of Angola, Zimbabwe and South Africa would not have been achieved when it was. Though he did not live to see it, he set the ball rolling and he threw down the gauntlet to the western powers and all those that supported racial tyranny and apartheid in the nations of southern Africa.

Some historians have even argued that that is precisely why he was eventually murdered. Yet if that was the motivation for organizing his assassination it did not stop anything because the cat was already out of the bag and his legacy had already been established and taken root.

This is confirmed by the fact that his extraordinary and dynamic foreign policy vis a vis the total liberation of our brother African nations and his unrelenting opposition and resistance to white minority rule in South Africa and Rhodesia (as it then was) continued under the able leadership of his second in command, General Olusegun Obasanjo, after he took over as Head of State on Feb. 14th 1976. The rest is history.

May General Murtala Ramat Mohammed's courageous soul continue to rest in peace and may those that are in power today resurrect his spirit and build on his great legacy. 

59 comments:

baba said...

Enter your comment...rip

Unknown said...

Awww
-D great anonymous now as Vivian Reginalds

OMIDAN ABBY said...

He has started talking again o..
Daddy baby, how's d baby fairing?

Eddy Ogbunambala said...

Amen

Unknown said...

Murtala mohammed is the found of terrorist and pedophile in Nigeria before terrorist buhari.
Were is him now oh dead thank you what goes around comes around buhari ur days are numberd.




















#sad indeed

Unknown said...

Ok nice...

Unknown said...

Icon... Rest well sirrrrrr












Enugu's second shoe designer

NaijaDeltaBabe said...

Well, I dnt know him


...merited happiness

tosisochukwu said...

The bride of our lovely con3

































































































!brightosman aka fake phyno .#gerarahere

Unknown said...

Rest on








LIB ADDICT#just passing#

Mufliat said...

I wasn't born then and cant say nothing about him.




#Hajia Mufliat

Unknown said...

Allah ya jikan bayin sa,ya mana kyakkawan karshe,amin

anonymous said...

for where....

anonymous said...

I hear

Unknown said...

Story

Unknown said...

Okay

#FINEST

Okogba said...

A hero

Unknown said...

Rest on sir



AJ MAIN BOY...

Anonymous said...

Rest In Peace To Our Great Hero, Who Serve The Country Wholeheartedly.

(Ibrahim-Subair)

Unknown said...

Noted... nxt plz

Anonymous said...

Rest In Peace To Our Great Hero, Who Serve The Country Wholeheartedly.

(Ibrahim-Subair)

Emjay Baba said...

Nice piece. May his soul continue to rest in perfect peace

Anonymous said...

FFK since you support PDP looters and thieves, how come you admire someone like Muritala Mohammed? Because Muritala Mohammed was just like Buhari. He hated injustice and corruption. FFK you are just a bloody hypocrate. Go get a life!

Anonymous said...

FFK since you support PDP looters and thieves, how come you admire someone like Muritala Mohammed? Because Muritala Mohammed was just like Buhari. He hated injustice and corruption. FFK you are just a bloody hypocrate. Go get a life!

Anonymous said...

One thing I have observed is that FFK has a lot of fear for OBJ despite the fact that OBJ played a very active and hypocritical role in destroying d PDP. SHM

Unknown said...

Good write up

Donjazzycrush said...

continue to RIP.
















Don~ jazzycrush

Unknown said...

Continue to Rest in Peace !!!




Damolia.DEW

Anonymous said...

Itsokay

U-C-J said...

Sleep On the General.
Linda mee k'anyi fu anya! @uchemacj

Commodore said...

he's really a courageous man. RIP

Chuks Bruno said...

Well spoken

Anonymous said...

Femi, if this man is alive you would have contrary opinion about him. I can't take any of your words serious. You and the entire PDP members ruined our country. Smfh for u.

Orobo

Anonymous said...

Idiagbon and Buhari were Murtala's boys in the army then.

Unknown said...

A true leader Indeed....with his popular word of "Fellow Nigerians"..... But he failed to answer the question of the Asaba Massacre which was perpetuated by Men Under His Command during The Nigeria Civil War...

Nenyechi said...

a hero indeed

Unknown said...

D'you wanna write about Murtala or you want to indirectly compare buhari....?




Linda pays - Blessed are the meek

Unknown said...

All this write up is a bundle of lies. Dont speak evil of the death does not warrant these lie-full write-ups. This is the ITT thief chairman like Olusegun Obasanjo and Abiola, stole the Nigerian money in the central bank in Benin with Obasanjo during the Nigerian civil war blamed it on Biafra. Ask Gen. Gowon and would have told you the greed in thid late man. Ask Gen. Bissala and Dimka, and eould have told you much about this man's greed and over ambition. Ask the Igbos, they would have told you how he planned and kill Aguiyi Ironsi who is innocent and better than him. Hr betrayed and killed his leader to obtain position I think this man is Obadanjo hero and not Nigeria's . Becahse they carry Nigeria money ceazed by Ugadan president then..Idi Amin Dada. This man is a thief who stole the international telephone and telegraph money. This man is example of Nigetian greed and over-ambitioudness. didn't expect this man to be celebrated on Linda Ikeji blog... This man is not a friend of the ibos. They killed a good leader like Ironsi. But as Ibos like selling themselves for a pot of meal porraige like Esau..shame on Linda to celebrate this man with all the nonsense lies written of him..linda..shame on you

Anonymous said...

may his soul continue to rest in peace...Want To Naturally Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Click Here To Read
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Unknown said...

He was a Core Nationalist.

Anonymous said...

Brought USA on their knees....Nigeria had great wealth then..d best we ever had.....greatly intimated US that they plotted his death

Atotileto said...

Shut up FFK, enu dun rofo. Did you, or your kleptomeniac party members demostrated any of the attributes you stated. Pls keep quite. Fool

Anonymous said...

We all know this before Mr Femi Fani Kayode. All we Nigerians are after at present is your share of fund from $2.1 arms deal money you most return before is too late. All eyes are on you ooo. Linda take note.

Anonymous said...

He deserved to be assassinated. He was a hater of the Igbos.

Anonymous said...

Well said FFK. Continue to rest in peace, the greatest head of state Nigeria ever had.

Kiki said...

Always had being a great writer.

Anonymous said...

Emma Okocha, in his “Blood on the Niger”, chronicled the massacre of over 2,500 Igbo men and boys – with their names - at Asaba in one day in September 1968, on the orders of Lt. Col. Murtala Muhammed. Also, writing in the November 26, 1968 issue of the “Look” magazine, its senior editor, Jack Shepherd, who said he witnessed the events reported that, “…perhaps 8,000 Ibo civilians died when the Midwest was ‘liberated’ by troops under Col. Murtala Muhammed; the Asaba massacre was replicated in Warri and Sapele…”.
Thirty years later, the ‘born again’ General Yakubu Gowon acknowledged those unprovoked massacres by the man Nigeria today celebrates as a hero, when he paid a visit to the Asagba of Asaba, Obi Prof. Chike Edozien in October 1999, where he apologized to the Obi for the atrocities of his administration against the defenceless Asaba people.
Today, Nigeria rolls out the drums to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the death of the man who qualifies to be addressed as the ‘Butcher of Asaba”.

Anonymous said...

The man is truly unique,wish i had met him.

Anonymous said...

He was truly unique.

Atotileto said...

This FFK is just a big mouthed fool.This same history he is talking was never practise by either him or his late father and his other accomplice.

OSINANL said...

You are an idiot...

Anonymous said...

But Muritala Mohammed came into power in 1975. What you claim happened in Asaba happened in 1968

Anonymous said...

Murtala very galant and patriotic, good to remember one of our heroes but FFK u are still an ass hole and be ready to cough out ur own share of Dasukigate loot. Idiot

Anonymous said...

You are right and death was even kind to him. As a four year old boy, I could remember soldiers moving up and down in my village in Afikpo in the present day Ebonyi state. I grew up to learn that his killer, Dimka was caught in my village in company of a woman whom my people nicknamed "Ugo Dimka'' and of course inside a hotel.

Unknown said...

everyone wants to say something they know nothing about.

Anonymous said...

You are a fool, take heed it does not last you forever.

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous 12:19AM Why are Igbos too tribalistic? What about the people that Aguyi Ironsi and Ojukwu killed? So because Linda is Igbo, she should not act like a professional by removing tribal sentiments on her blog? Look at FFK, a yoruba man praising a hausa man and engaged to an Igbo girl. Igbos are too selfish, greedy and tribalistic thats why they will never smell power. Smtcheew.

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous 12:19AM Why are Igbos too tribalistic? What about the people that Aguyi Ironsi and Ojukwu killed? So because Linda is Igbo, she should not act like a professional by removing tribal sentiments on her blog? Look at FFK, a yoruba man praising a hausa man and engaged to an Igbo girl. Igbos are too selfish, greedy and tribalistic thats why they will never smell power. Smtcheew.

Anonymous said...

Hero of sorts! The many widows of Asaba, Delta State State see him differently. He deceitfully called their husbands for a peace meeting at killed all of them. For the widows, this man's death means a different thing to them. May God forgive all
Chuwuka madu

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