Murtala Mohammed: A great ancestor of Nigerian transformation, 50 years after, By Adéwálé Àjàdí

The late General Mohammed was indeed chosen to set out a path that, if we follow even now, will create the urgency and values to move beyond just being indigenes of a great possibility called Nigeria, into sacrificing for a nation of disciplined intention to greatness. 50 years after, Murtala Mohammed is still a great ancestor of Nigerian transformation, and he offers discernment of the ways to our better tomorrow.

The name Murtala is a Hausa variation of the Arabic name Murtada, which means “the chosen one.” Murtala Ramat Mohammed was murdered along with his ADC and driver, 50 years ago. Like the most effective people who exercise leadership, he is a hero to many and a villain to some. His role in the Aguiyi Ironsi coup and the actions of part of his troops in Asaba, leading to many civilian deaths, lends weight to the conclusion of those who reduce him to ethnicity and volatility. Truly great lives are fashioned by mistakes and misdeeds, and this was no different for the late General Mohammed. To any serious and critical thinker about Nigeria, his six months in power were a watershed in the thinking and processes that will turn Nigeria from a country to a nation, establishing some key elements of the mental model required to decolonise our minds and lay an important understanding of the temperament needed to set boundaries for managing our worst devils and crowning it with a yet unmatched humility that makes the most powerful accessible to the people.

He was in power for six months, from the coup that replaced General Yakubu Gowon, whose affable and patient engagement had become the excuse for principalities to thrive across the Nigerian socio-economic space, turning institutions, both private and public, into fiefdoms of their loyalties. Ensuring that even in the public sector, we had super permanent secretaries who exercised all the power of the government. The massive Udoji award of increases and arrears of 1975 further cemented the bastions of privilege, generating high inflation and destroying rural communities, as it was then more rewarding to be a contractor in the abundance of urban areas than be a farmer in the rural areas. At that time, the majority of Nigerians were still living in rural areas. The awards led to a spending spree on importation, while the promises of the transition to civilian rule were not met, and the country was in a drift, as the private sector sought its own share of the bumper wage increases. There were examples of the spending of money, as if at an owambe. The Cement Armada, with tons of imported cement, descended on Lagos Harbour, and these imports were over 20 times the capacity of the port. Nigeria became renowned as a country of wealth without vision.

Murtala had a clear vision of a disciplined country that had accountable systems and a sense of urgency about it all. I will never forget as a child phrases like “My government will not tolerate indiscipline” or “…immediate effect and automatic alacrity.” He was also committed to replacing the glaring power distance between the government and its people, something that eventually cost him his life. This was still the time of people like Fidel Castro, Tito, Julius Nyerere, Sekou Toure, and General Murtala’s six months set a pace in the direction of bestriding Nigeria in the way that no one before and arguably no one after has done.

He stands out as the champion of the fight against neo-colonialism, not just within Nigeria but also across Africa. In response to the US President Gerald Ford’s demand on Angola, he gave his famous speech, “Africa has come of age,” given to the Organisation of African Unity. He said, “Angola is merely the excuse being used by those who cannot reconcile themselves to the momentous victories of the forces of African nationalism to assert their neo-colonialist ambitions on the continent.”

He understood the assignment deeply. From actively turning up at institutions unannounced to ensure that services and offices were as advertised to the people, and often showing up dressed like everyday Nigerians. His antics captured the imaginations of many. He cleared out the principalities in the civil service, allowing many people to progress upwards. He challenged the prevalence of secret societies across public spaces. He set a definite timetable and process for the return to civilian rule.

He stands out as the champion of the fight against neo-colonialism, not just within Nigeria but also across Africa. In response to the US President Gerald Ford’s demand on Angola, he gave his famous speech, “Africa has come of age,” given to the Organisation of African Unity. He said, “Angola is merely the excuse being used by those who cannot reconcile themselves to the momentous victories of the forces of African nationalism to assert their neo-colonialist ambitions on the continent.” He led and won the battle to support Angola, putting Nigeria in the frontline of Pan-Africanist forces of African liberation, for the first time in words and action. He built the systemic mindset that lives today as the essence of Nigerian Afrocentric heritage in its external affairs.

I was the 10 year old son of a man stuck in banking’s middle management, because my father was an Ibadan man to the core, and the only one in the Cooperative Bank who refused to align with the Head of Bank from a different part of Yorubaland. He had not been promoted in any significant way for years in his employment, and his wife blossomed into a big businesswoman with his direct support. In any case, Murtala Mohammed changed the trajectory of my father, Muritala Aderogba Ajadi, and he ended up first becoming the number two at the bank and left employment eventually as the managing director. In many ways, General Mohammed was my first bona fide Nigerian hero. Before him, I had James Brown, Mohammed Ali, Pele and, in comics, Luke Cage and the Black Panther, and, of course, the Silver Surfer.

Murtala Mohammed inspired a truly transformative ideal in governance, and in six months raised the prospects for Nigerian discipline, the holy grail of national interaction and value-driven citizenship. He inspired the better angels and possibilities of a true Giant of Africa, in which accountability is not just about identifying the flaws of others but also holding oneself to a higher standard.

General Murtala Mohammed was in a hurry to leave his mark before handing over to the Nigerian people to choose their future. He had set out the Aguda panel, which located Abuja as the future capital. He had established the Nigerian brand of afrocentrism backed by the economic might of the oil income. He reduced the cost and laid the foundations of the effectiveness of the major soft power exposition that was Festac ’77, pushing it later from the planned 1975 jamboree and reducing the participants by 10,000 and visitors by 45,000. He reinvigorated the indigenisation policy by reviewing the Nigerian enterprise promotion decree, which was formally renewed in 1977 and is the foundation of the exemplary performance of Nigerians in their own economy. Until then, many foreign companies had fronted Nigerians to keep their stake intact.

Murtala Mohammed inspired a truly transformative ideal in governance, and in six months raised the prospects for Nigerian discipline, the holy grail of national interaction and value-driven citizenship. He inspired the better angels and possibilities of a true Giant of Africa, in which accountability is not just about identifying the flaws of others but also holding oneself to a higher standard. The late General Mohammed was indeed chosen to set out a path that, if we follow even now, will create the urgency and values to move beyond just being indigenes of a great possibility called Nigeria, into sacrificing for a nation of disciplined intention to greatness. 50 years after, Murtala Mohammed is still a great ancestor of Nigerian transformation, and he offers discernment of the ways to our better tomorrow.

Adéwálé Àjàdí, a lawyer, creative consultant and leadership expert, is author of Omoluwabi 2.0: A Code of Transformation in 21st Century Nigeria.