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HomeNewsBuhari, TY Danjuma, recall Feb 13, 1979 events

Buhari, TY Danjuma, recall Feb 13, 1979 events

President Muhammadu Buhari says the assassination of former Head of State General Murtala Mohammed on February 13, 1976 robbed Nigeria of her great foundation.

President Buhari stated that the slain head of state was on his way to putting Nigeria back to the path of order and discipline after years of drift, corruption and near despair.

He said this at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja on Friday while speaking at the 40th anniversary memorial lecture organised by the Murtala Mohammed Foundation.

“Murtala was on his way to putting Nigeria back to the path of order and discipline after years of drift, corruption and near despair. It would not be over stating the fact to say that Nigeria lost its newly found momentum with Murtala’s demise,“ Buhari, who was then a Lt-Col in the Army and Military Governor of the north-eastern states, said.

President Buhari called on all Nigerians to learn from the late former Head of State General Murtala Mohammed; the virtues of loyalty, honesty and extraordinary passion to make the country better.

President Buhari said on assumption of office in 1975, the late Murtala set out with a single-minded determination seldom seen in Nigerian leadership.

He cited the making of Abuja as the Federal Capital Territory as well as the creation of seven new states as major prominent developments witnessed during Murtala’s regime.

Buhari said he developed a great liking and respect for Murtala, who he noted was his senior in the Army, on the ground of professional excellence, competence, straight-forwardness and concern for up-and-coming officers.

He recalled: “On the 13th of February 1976, Nigeria suffered a grievous blow with the assassination of Murtala Muhammad in a failed coup d’état. The country mourned, and rightly so, because Murtala had been on his way to putting Nigeria back to the path of order and discipline, after years of drift, corruption and near despair. It would not be over-stating the case to say that Nigeria lost its newly-found momentum with Murtala’s demise.”‎
Buhari, who noted that there is no one without flaws, described the Late Murtala as a man in a hurry; the flaw, he said, could make the former leader appear abrupt or moody.

“Of course, no one is without flaws. He was a man in a hurry, and sometimes this could make him appear abrupt or even moody. But what he could not tolerate was incompetence and idleness.

“On assuming the role of Head of State in 1975, Murtala set out with a single-minded determination seldom seen in Nigerian leadership. Decisions were on fast-track. Two major developments are prominent among his legacies: the move of the capital to Abuja from Lagos; and the creations of seven new States to make 19. The shadow of his death still somewhat hangs over Nigeria.

“We are here to honour a national hero and patriot, not to mourn him, and to take a few lessons from his achievements: his love for Nigeria and Nigerians, from wherever they came; his intense professionalism; his impatience with incompetence and lack of patriotism; his loyalty to friends and colleagues.”

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In his own remarks, former Defence Minister General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma disclosed that he was among those to be killed had the February 13, 1975 coup de tat succeeded.

Danjuma, who is also the Vice-President of the Board of Trustees of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation, explained that the leader of the aborted coup, Dimka, and his group had listed him as number three of those to be killed.

He explained that when the list was shown to General Ilyasu Bissala, he brought his name forward to number two after Murtala who was the prime target.

He stated: “That I live today is by the special grace of God. From that moment, 40 years till date, have been moments of emotions for me. In fact, I have considered them as divine”.

In her welcome address, the Chief Executive officer of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation, Mrs Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode, decried that the civil service was fraught with corruption and sheer commercialization of public service; the vices which, she said, her father fought to a standstill in his service to the nation.

Aisha, Murtala’s daughter, however, noted that she was happy that just like her late father, President Buhari was currently fighting corruption.

Aisha, who was 12 years old Murtala was assassinated, said the only way President Buhari could sustain her father’s legacies was to ensure that he did not relent in the fight against corruption.

She described her father as a zealous believer in the African liberation and a simple and radical idealist.

“We are imbibing the zero tolerance for corruption and are promoting the ideal as a way of expressing our distress by the commercialization of public service.
However, in Buhari, we have a leader who shares Murtala’s values,” she said.

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