Was Murtala Murhammad a good man?

Well this is something I'm not really familar with but I am wondering if Murtala Mohammed was actually a good and well respected person rather than just a military dictator.

It's very hard to find information on this so I thought here would be a good place to start.

Difficult to say.

His regime was just too short that people remember him for the reforms he was trying to carry out. Maybe if he had lived longer, he would have turned into another dictator like Abacha. Though, I still know a few people who says they never like him.

Thanks, I just picked him as he seemed to be one of the more influental in nigerian history (on the money, airport named after him etc)

i agree with u that his reign was too short. but he made marked improvements int he every day life of the average naija man/woman. and i don't believe there is anyone everyone will like. all humans have his/her own foibles

Wikipedia to the Rescue:

"General Murtala Ramat Mohammed (November 8, 1938–February 13, 1976) was a military ruler (Head of the Federal Military Government) of Nigeria (1975–1976).

"Mohammed opposed the regime of Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi which took power after a coup d'etat on January 15, 1966, and he was a leader of the successful counter-coup of July 29, 1966. Mohammed led the crucial seizure of the airport at Ikeja, which was later renamed the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in his honor. He at first intended to use the coup as a step towards the secession of northern Nigeria, but later dropped this demand.

"The coup led to the installation of Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon in power. On July 29, 1975, the anniversary of the last coup, Mohammed led another and seized power for himself. He was, however, killed on February 13, 1976 in an abortive coup attempt when his car was ambushed in traffic in Lagos. It is widely believed that Britain was actively involved in this assassination. (One of the prime assailants took refuge in the British embassy there immediately after the assassination.)

"He was succeeded by his chief of staff, Olusegun Obasanjo, who completed the plan of an orderly transfer to civilian rule by handing power to Alhaji Shehu Shagari on October 1, 1979."


It is hard to label a military leader as a "good man".

What about the famous War Against Indiscipline (WAI) program? (I remember my parents telling me that during General Murtala Mohammed's short rule people had to form queues to enter commercial buses.) The old WAI program is the inspiration for the current Lagos State government's "KAI" programme ('Kick Against Indiscipline').

seun:

What about the famous War Against Indiscipline (WAI) program?

I think you may be confusing General Muhammed with General Buhari, whose regime launched WAI and who came three regimes after General Muhammed.

Oops.

old2boy must realy have a lot of grudge with MM. If i remember rightly fromte info available civil servants sacked then were mostly corrupt guys.

and i would like to disagree that he was only recognise for his coup d'état. he was laying a foundation for a non-corrupt naija when he was terminated in his prime. he made people who had acquired propertie illegally to return them

I've heard people say that, if his regime had not been cut short, he might have turned out to be one of the worst dictators ever to come out of Africa. Judging from the way he started (I think a military governor was executed for some reason) those people might be right.

it is well known that he was a war profiteer and he looted banks and supermarkets in biafra even though he claimed to have given up the loot on ascending power

Hey Guys, No grudges at all. Neither myself nor anyone close to me was affected directly by MM's actions. However all of Nigeria lost direction from his 1966 anger, and corruption became the problem of this country as aresult of his 1975 pruge. They said people were sacked for corruption but who produced the lists? Many innocents were sent packing because the real corrupt guy was writing the list. Others saw and now live with "i can be sacked any time, let me steal as much as possible now"

MM was just bad news for a Good United Strong Nigeria.

Good United Strong Nigeria.

No such thing ever existed.

Digging the grave of a dead man is very bad. He is dead, and so is his deeds, together with him in the grave. Why do we have to dig up the past? We need to move forward. We need Progress, Nigerians!

Kazey, you'll be surprised by how much of the past will determine the future, especially when it is the case of Nigeria. Too much cases - and too many diverse people involved here - with their different values.

I've alwayes believed some that things happen so the worst would not happen (bi eyi o s'ele). So, if MM was killed then, he was probably going to be the worst leader we could get. Thank God he died at a time people would have fond memories of him. So also the case of Abiola, even Abacha. Yes, Abacha. Who knows what he could have done if he was elected the President of Nigeria? That is why I'm optimistic about this Babangida issue too. God will always be God!

That's rather ridiculous, my dear. Are you saying that dying young automatically makes a person bad? Come on!

;d ;d ;d ;d

murtala was a focussed and decisive leader.

as a soldier, he demanded total submission from his juniors and at the same time disrespected his seniors
he was the brain being the 2nd and 3rd coup in nigeria
as head of state he had sincere intentions to reform nigeria and he was on that path b4 he was cut down
his strengths: a good leader, decisive, analytical, a good planner and strategist; interested in the well being of the country
his weaknesses: arrogance; nepotism
one thing im not sure abt is whether he was corrupt or not. but as we all know it takes time b4 u know the full nature of a man.
hie arrogance and nepotism eventually cost him his life when he promoted obasanjo and danjuma over bissalla and still left him in the army. he should have sacked him. (babangida, abacha etc have had learnt from this. thats why they sack any office they dont like)

although he came out as a good political leader he was a bad military general. he came out as the worst officer in the civil war and he wasted a whole lot of men when he took wrong decisions.

in summary he was a charismatic leader who had very large following

May His Soul Rest In Peace.

MMH was the best Head of State Nigeria ever had!

Murtala's foreign policy was awesome and led to the independence of Mozambique, Angola and a few years later Zimbabwe.

ask yourself.

He was a mass murderer, but I have to leave the dead alone. Let them be for it profits none of us to dig up his ugly past.

MM will be remembered by some as someone that suggested that all Igbo men be castrated during the war.

How I wish his earlier plan of carving the North out of Nigeria succeeded sha.

My Personal Opinion.

Murtala Muhammed laid the foundation for subsequent military dictatorships to THRIVE in Nigeria. He was definitely a focussed man who had a mission as Head of State. His mission was however ill-informed and he did many things without proper knowledge. Attempting to decree market prices was a recipe for economic chaos.

I admired his focus and determination. He was strong on discipline though I thought he went about most of those things in the wrong ways.

All said, I think his regime prepared the table for Nigeria's economic downward spiral

Please think before you write what suits you about Murtala, and we will appreciate if you provide source of your information and facts.
You see some people just jump the gun and write all sorts of rubbish to garner more posts on nairaland   I'm sure most of you here contributing were very young during MM days, some were not even born.
@seun in as much as wikipedia is a credible site, can you post more links to similar claims? Thanks

@Afam and grafikdon what are your source?

big spif:

Please think before you write what suits you about Murtala, and we will appreciate if you provide source of your information and facts.
You see some people just jump the gun and write all sorts of rubbish to garner more posts on nairaland I'm sure most of you here contributing were very young during MM days, some were not even born.
@seun in as much as wikipedia is a credible site, can you post more links to similar claims? Thanks

@Afam and grafikdon what are your source?

Let me first of all try to provide you with links and facts including pictures and video recording to prove that Abacha was a brutal,blood thirsty dictator. While I am on that, I will also try to give you links and facts including pictures and money transfer sheets to prove that Babangida was a big thief and the Lootermander- In-Thief of the Nigerian Natural Resources. By the time I am done, I will now post links and facts including video clips and audio clips to show that MM was a hell bound blood thirsty mass murderer.

I happen to know a couple of people who fought on his side and against him during the war, as well as people who were with him before Karma caught up with him in a well deserved hail of bullets. When both parties have the same thing to say about the man, you can't conclude they were mere fabrications. Like I said, the man is dead, we should let him be. We are solely responsible for our deeds and actions on this material plane and will bear the consequences, alone, here on earth or after we shed our physical bodies. There is no way out of it!

Murtala Muhammad was a charismatic leader who was well loved by majority of Nigerians. Those who belong to the school of thought that says he was a bad leader can be categorised into two. First, the easterners and their grudge against him is understandable; as one of the fearerless Nigerian war commanders that helped decimate their ambition to secede from the rest of the country, we do not expect them to sing his praises.

Second, the civil servants, who were indicted for their bad work ethics and yet were compensated by the Gowon regime with fantastic arrears of salaries and bonuses - nicknamed Udoji award. His reform of the civil service was meant to trim the work-force, remove corrupt and bad eggs and make the civil service more virile and responsive to their duties to the nation.

Indeed he committed some attrocities during the civil war, but that was during the war, and soldiers are not known to be gentlemanly in war campaigns.  Ever heard of the scorch-earth policy used by one of the US war commanders during the civil war campaign in the US? Nevertheless, he apologised to the nation for all attrocites he committed during the war wnen he became head of state.

During his brief but eventful stay as head of state, he warmed himself to the heart of Nigerians with his people-oriented policies; there was job security as well as security of life, food was in abundance and economy was buoyant. His short reign was a blessing and majority appreciated it. When he passed, Nigerians mourned his death and he remain till today in the sub-conscious of those of us who was alive and valued service to humanity.

To live in the mind of those who love us is not to die.

big spif:

Please think before you write what suits you about Murtala, and we will appreciate if you provide source of your information and facts.
You see some people just jump the gun and write all sorts of rubbish to garner more posts on nairaland I'm sure most of you here contributing were very young during MM days, some were not even born.
@seun in as much as wikipedia is a credible site, can you post more links to similar claims? Thanks

@Afam and grafikdon what (is)are your source(s)?

So, because you are not aware of something makes that thing rubbish abi?

Well, when you learn to ask questions properly I shall consider them (well apart from the correction above sha).

I don't know about fearless. More like reckless and ambitious.

His boneheaded stubborness during the war led to a lot of Federal losses.

He was also a major participant in the Second Coup that led to decimation of a fledgling officer corps.

@doyin13
Your alias should be Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo IRUNMALE not iranmale.