MURTALA: ETCHED IN NIGERIA'S HISTORY

Murtala Muhammed from recorded information was one of the few Northern majors who were promoted to Lieutenant Colonel after January 15th 1966 perhaps to pacify the agitated Northern interest groups with respect to the coup that claimed the lives of Balewa, Ahmadu Bello, Maimalari, Kur Muhammed, Lagerma and Pam. He was a fiery character who according to Joe Garba never wanted to become Supreme commander but took up the role and moved like a whirlwind albeit short-lived.

It is reported that Murtala was quite vocal and was seen as a pivot to get back at those who took away the leading Northern leaders at the time. The role he played during the July1966 mutiny is there on record; it was more of a leading role and it is on record that they were interested in dismembering the young nation evidenced by the wild and uncontrolled nature of the killings across the nation. He went from negotiating the continued existence of Nigeria to backing Gowon as supreme commander.

The civil war came quickly and he was promoted to Colonel when the war commenced. The atrocities and immense losses in the 2nd division sector of the war are many and undisputed. Asaba, Onitsha and Abagana are notable. The Federal troops under his command suffered severe losses and he was replaced by Col. Bisalla who later became his defence chief in July 1975 and executed for the failed February 1976 coup. The civil war ended in January of 1970 and from that time to July 75; Murtala only went up one rank to Brigadier and was left at the Signals corps of the army just like General Benjamin Adekunle was deployed at a time to clear the congested Lagos port. He was however appointed the commissioner of communication by Gowon in 1975.

I still wonder why a man who identified with violence in 1966 assumed power in July 1975 without a drop of blood shed. What happened to him between 1969 and 1975? Well he became supreme commander and was quite vocal in African affairs. Joe Garba detailed some of his actions and communications in his book "Diplomatic soldiering" especially with handling Angola. He was vocal and aggressive with his foreign policy demands; the Americans were offended and apartheid did not escape his criticism. One wonders if his overly abrasive nature cost him his life.

By October 4 1975, he had set up a 50 member committee to draft a constitution and he proposed the presidential system to them. He fired his military colleagues and "powerful" civil servants. He definitely played with fire as close to 200 senior policemen lost their jobs in two months. Within four months, numerous civil servants, doctors, vice chancellors, judges, typists, gardeners, messengers, and various grades of workers were gone for reasons which ranged from ill-health to lateness and from perceived disloyalty to gross misconduct. Surely very many good people would have been caught up in this web; could this have been the reason why those who survived pulverized the system to provide their own insurance?

The same men who had stood side by side with Murtala about ten years prior to that time to avenge the deaths of Northern soldiers and politicians were the same ones who turned against him. Over 30 officers most of whom were of present day Plateau state extraction were executed for the coup including Brigadier Bisalla who was technically senior to TY Danjuma but was overlooked for one of the two roles eventually occupied by Obasanjo and TY Danjuma. Bisalla maintained his innocence but the deed was done and even his attendance at Murtala's burial did not count since Dimka implicated him.

The nearly four month decimation of the Civil service and government parastatals seems by far his gravest actions against Nigeria. I do not think these actions were carried out to deliberately harm the nation. He went about without the protection that military leaders would have been expected to have and seemed decisive in his attempt to tackle corruption unlike his predecessor whose post-civil war time in charge was marred by corruption allegations and a reluctance to restore Nigeria to civilian rule.

Murtala's legacy in my opinion is one of violence and bloodshed. If we should consider all he did then we would alter the name on the Lagos airport however I think the man went through a reformation and somehow got changed along the line and genuinely sought to make the nation and Africa work. It is unfortunate that his action on the civil service seemingly set Nigeria back in time and complicated everything. One wonders if we would have these same impressions if he was not murdered and had enough time to follow through with his reforms.

P.S: This has been edited here and there but it was mostly a comment I made in reaction to a somewhat similarly themed  Facebook post on the 13th of February by @Chxta. I hope this serves to stimulate the reader to take time to understand the nature of the characters who contributed to what Nigeria has become. It could make us become tolerant if we are able to see our weaknesses in these same men who looked larger than life when they reigned.