On the morning of February 13,1976, gunfire shattered the calm of Lagos. Nigeria’s Head of State, Murtala Ramat Muhammed, sat in traffic near the Federal Secretariat in Ikoyi, just 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. He was 37-years-old and had spent barely 200 days in office.
Half a century later, his name still echoes across Nigeria and beyond.
A soldier shaped by Kano
Born on November 8, 1938 in Kano, Muhammed grew up in a family rooted in royal and clerical tradition. He attended Barewa College in Zaria before training at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in England. Those who taught him described him as sharp minded and determined. One report noted that he held strong views and expressed them without fear.
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He served in the Congo during the United Nations peacekeeping mission and later became a central figure during the Nigerian Civil War. His boldness on the battlefield earned him the nickname Monty of the Midwest. By the age of 33, he was already a brigadier general, one of the youngest in the country.
Though he was not part of the first military coup of January 1966, he was associated with the counter coup that followed. In July 1975, while Yakubu Gowon attended a summit of the Organisation of African Unity in Kampala, Muhammed took power in a bloodless coup. He became Nigeria’s fourth Head of State.
A reformer in a hurry
From his first broadcast on July 29 1975, it was clear he would move fast. “All members of the Federal Executive Council are hereby dismissed with immediate effect,” he declared. The phrase with immediate effect became his signature word.
He dismissed more than 10,000 civil servants across the public service, the judiciary, the police, the armed forces and public corporations. Many Nigerians saw it as a bold strike against corruption and complacency.
Critics argued that the purge was too sweeping and lacked due process. What no one disputed was his urgency.
He decongested the Apapa ports. He promised a return to civilian rule by 1979 and began the transition process. On February 3, 1976, he created seven new states, bringing the total to 19. He also announced plans to move Nigeria’s capital from overcrowded Lagos to a new Federal Capital Territory in the centre of the country, following the recommendation of a panel led by Justice Akinola Aguda. That vision would later become Abuja.
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Beyond Nigeria, he spoke strongly in support of African liberation movements. He backed struggles in Angola, Namibia and South Africa, positioning Nigeria as a leading voice on the continent.
His child, Risqua Murtala Muhammed, reflects on that record with pride. “It is a time to appreciate the legacy that late General Murtala Ramat Muhammed left behind,” he said at a recent anniversary event. “He stood for anti corruption, integrity, honesty, fairness, justice and equity. Without these elements, progress will be a problem.”
The day the beat stopped
The events of that February morning have been recounted many times. The coup attempt was led by Lieutenant Colonel Bukar Suka Dimka. Master Warrant Officer Michael Otuwe, who survived the attack, in an interview with Daily Trust, recalled how the attack happened
“On that fateful day, we passed through Federal Secretariat in Ikoyi which was undergoing renovation and covered with zinc. When we reached Alagbgon Junction the traffic man did not notice the flags, he would have allowed the traffic in our direction to continue moving, but he stopped the five or six cars in front of us then I saw some people in agbada (Babanriga) and when they lifted them up they brought out AK-47 rifles and fired at us. Already a masked man had got the driver, Sergeant Adamu Michika, in the head and he feel on the arm-rest where the suit case containing the General’s mufti was. I took cover and fell on the driver. The General and the ADC also took cover. When the assassins left and were heading to National Broadcasting Corporation – Radio House – to announce the takeover, one of the Majors turned and saw when the ADC opened the door to help the General, the Major shouted and notified his colleagues that they were alive. This made them to turn and rush back and emptied there bullets in us.”
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Also killed were his aide de camp, Lieutenant Akintunde Akinsehinwa, and his driver, Sergeant Adamu Michika.
His daughter, Aisha, has often said that her father’s simplicity made him vulnerable. “He did not go around with motorcades and sirens,” she recalled. “He was in traffic just like everybody else. That was what he embodied.”
The coup failed. Dimka was later tried and executed. But the loss was irreversible.
A legacy that outlived him
In Kano, his tomb remains a place of quiet pilgrimage. Across the country, his name marks major institutions and roads. The busiest airport in Nigeria bears his name, the Murtala Muhammed International Airport. In Kano, landmarks such as the Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital and Murtala Muhammed Way stand as daily reminders of his brief rule.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Lecture and Leadership Conference, former president Olusegun Obasanjo, who succeeded him, reflected on what made him different. Obasanjo argued that Muhammed’s greatest achievement was preparing a successor who could continue his plans.
“We cannot make progress if we take two steps forward, one step sideways and three steps back,” Obasanjo said. He admitted that leaders who came after, including himself, struggled to build lasting continuity.
That honesty adds depth to the legend. Muhammed was not perfect. Some of his wartime decisions remain debated. His purge of civil servants left bitterness in some quarters. Yet even critics concede that he brought energy and clarity at a time of drift.
Fifty years on
He ruled for less than seven months. Yet the Murtala years are still spoken of with a certain fondness, especially by those who remember the sharp tone of his speeches and the speed of his decisions.
He was a soldier, a reformer, a father of six, and a man in a hurry. Fifty years after the gunfire in Ikoyi, Nigeria still pauses to remember the young general who moved with urgency and left before his time.
