How Murtala Muhammed was killed – Daughter

Aisha Muhammed, daughter of Nigeria’s former Head of State, Murtala Ramat Muhammed, has said her father’s simple lifestyle and leadership philosophy made it easy for him to be assassinated.

Aisha, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation, made the remarks on Monday while speaking on the Morning Show programme of ARISE News, as Nigeria marks the 50th anniversary of the late military leader’s assassination.

Reflecting on her father’s leadership style, she said the former Head of State embodied the values he preached, particularly accountability, responsibility and discipline.

According to her, Murtala Muhammed viewed corruption as a “cankerworm” capable of destroying society and did not merely condemn it in words but demonstrated his anti-corruption stance through his personal conduct and governance approach.

“I think his leadership style was clear. He led with clarity. He believed in accountability. He believed in responsibility,” she said.

“We are all familiar with his anti-corruption stance. Corruption was not something he just talked about. He literally felt it was a cankerworm that would destroy our society, and 50 years later, look at what has happened.

“He also believed that you had to embody leadership in the way you presented yourself,” Aisha added.

She explained that her father deliberately avoided the trappings of power, including long motorcades, blaring sirens and heavy security details, choosing instead to live like the average Nigerian.

This lifestyle choice, she said, directly contributed to his assassination on February 13, 1976.

“My father didn’t go around with motorcades and sirens or a lot of security. Fifty years later, people say it must have been painful, but that was who he was,” she said.

“That was why it was actually easy to assassinate him. He didn’t have a whole slew of security with him. He was in traffic like everybody else. The traffic wardens stopped them, and they stopped like everyone else. That was when the coup plotters came out and he was shot.”

General Muhammed came to power in a bloodless coup in July 1975, which ousted General Yakubu Gowon. He was assassinated barely six months later during an abortive coup on February 13, 1976.

Despite his short 200-day tenure, the late Head of State is remembered for sweeping reforms, including the dismissal of over 10,000 public officials over corruption allegations, the creation of seven new states, and laying the groundwork for Nigeria’s transition to civilian rule.

His administration also initiated the process that eventually led to the relocation of Nigeria’s capital from Lagos to Abuja.