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For too long we have paid lip service to issues of remoulding our
society, for too often we have talked glibly…of the birth of a new
nation… now is the time to rethink, to reflect and to act!
-Late
Murtala Muhammad
Alas!
Thus was one among the numerous dreams, hopes and expectations the Late
General Murtala Ramat Muhammed had for his beloved country Nigeria.
However, quest for power in a form of cutthroat dimension, inferiority
complex and ego-centrism by a few disgruntled dissident soldiers did not
allow him realize his laudable objective of cleansing Nigeria thereby
sparing no time in wasting his precious life in the afternoon of Friday
the 13th of February, 1976.
Though
I was just three by age when General Murtala Muhammad was
gruesomely assassinated, being a student of politics who went through
the rudiments and teachings of the revolutionaries of this world e.g. (Fanons,
Cabrals, Nkurumahs, Socrates, Machiavellis, Platos, Luther Kings,
Rodneys, Fukuyamas, Huntingtons, Wilmots, Mazruis et al), it is
practically impossible for one to deny the fact that Murtala was
indeed a leader par excellence! He was indeed a detribalized Fulani and
a courageous soldier with an impeccable character who throughout his 38
years of existence in this world scorned injustice, indiscipline,
indolence, dishonesty, economic aggrandizement and above all corruption.
Coupled with his other patriotic and nationalistic chauvinism, in his
just 200 Days reign, General Murtala easily became one of the greatest
men that ever ruled anywhere on the continent of Africa.
No
wonder that since his assassination, the 13th day of February
every year was being set aside in his memory by Institutions of
Government, International Bodies, Elder-statesmen, Student Unions and
other Non-Governmental Organizations in a form of organizing lectures
and seminars dwelling on some of his key unfinished policies and
programmes with a view to highlighting areas of commonality and
divergence in the overall interest of the country.
General Murtala indeed came, saw, conquered and laid a concrete
foundation upon which the post Sardauna Political Institution that saw
the emergence of Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari in 1979 was built. It
was during his era that the political awareness among the citizenry
became solidified as provided for by the Constitution Drafting Committee
(CDC). He singularly set up the body that paved way for the
‘Nigerianization’ of Nigerian politics in those days. Nigerians from all
shades of leaning participated and contributed in no mean
measure culminating in the emergence of the 1979 Constitution rated as
one of the best even prior to independence to-date.
No
doubt that even after he was assassinated, his immediate successor the
then General Olusegun Obasanjo guardedly pursued the Late Murtala
Muhammed’s programmes and policies to their logical conclusions.
Latest account from respected Nowa Omogui in his well researched account
of how Murtala was eliminated remarked that ‘Obasanjo executed an
escape maneuver, spent most of the day at the house of a civilian friend
in Ikoyi (Chief S.B Bakare) monitoring the situation by telephone but
later emerged to become the Head of State’.
General Obasanjo and his lieutenants in the then Supreme Military
Council (Yar’adua, TY Danjuma, IBB and Domkat Bali) had to ensure that
the Late Murtala’s hopes were not shattered, his dreams realized and
expectations achieved.
Interestingly, like a response to Nowa’s diatribe against him, sometimes
in 2006, in a State Banquet organised in his honour while on a 3-Day
State Visit to Ogun State, former President Obasanjo emphatically
described his predecessor thus: ’…General
Murtala as a dynamic, committed, dedicated leader who believed strongly
in what was best for Nigeria.
As
Thomas Jefferson would say ‘…. Honesty is the first chapter in the
book of wisdom....’, General Murtala while proffering panacea to
the multifaceted political hiccups of that time had to clamp down on all
the erring Civil Servants with the then Head Of the Federal Civil
Service Commission, who was seen as the most powerful, influential and
untouchable Public Servant topping in the list.
Similarly as they say, ‘charity begins at home’, General
Muhammad (as he was fondly addressed by his friends cum colleagues)
immediately shifted his rationalization drive to his Military
Constituency, wherein he dismissed the then Military Governors that
served under the Gowon Regime with their assets confiscated and
transferred to the Federal Government and accounts frozen.
However, all these principles and ideals that General Murtala stood for
are today being eroded and corruption has become our bane. Thanks for
Student-Nuhu Ribadu who religiously waged the war against it
until recently when he was nominated to further his studies at NIPSS,
Kuru.
Of his
entire dreams, Murtala’s dream of relocating the Nigerian Federal
Capital Territory to Abuja was courageously realized with the
instrumentality of General Babangida in 1991 and subsequent
consolidation of same by Late General Sani Abatcha. Both Generals
contributed in making ABUJA a REALITY today.
General Babangida ruled Nigeria for eight (8) uninterrupted years having
contributed his modest quota in the course of nation building with the
creation of eleven (11) States in addition to the hitherto nineteen (19)
bequeathed by Late General Murtala. Late General Sani Abatcha on the
other hand, would have ruled Nigeria for as long as only God knows when
but for divine intervention. He too had immensely contributed in his
short-lived period of five (5) years as his legacies would ever remain
indelible in the psyche of Nigerians. Posterity is already judging him
right in most of his actions and inactions while in Aso Rock Villa. May
his gentle soul rest in perfect peace.
Similarly, General Buhari’s effort before them, especially in the area
of battling with the menace of corruption and indiscipline during his
twenty (20) months of administration as Nigeria’s Head of State, could
hardly be quantified. President Obasanjo had even once while extolling
his track record described him thus: ‘Muhammadu
Buhari took any work given to him seriously. He was as reliable as he
was hardworking and honest’.
Finally as Nigerians all over are marking the Late Murtala’s 32nd
Anniversary with series of encomiums showered on him for his dynamic
leadership provided within just six months of his era, I wish to advise
Nigerian political class, especially those holding political offices
under the leadership of President Umaru Musa Yar’adua that in the spirit
of the legacies and virtues for which Late General Murtala Muhammad died
for, and in the interest of Nigeria, let them eschew all sorts of
political brigandage and socio-cultural bigotry by respecting the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria they all swore to
uphold.
God
bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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