₦airaland Forum

Tony Spike: After reading this piece, it is clear that Lt. Col. Dimka was sponsored by some elements. It seem the British Mi6 is involved in the whole scenario. Firstly, Dimka had no coherent reason to kill Murtala Mohammed; he basically just wanted to satisfy his masters. Murtala Mohammed was one of Nigeria's finest leader. He stood for discipline, anti-corruption and fiscal responsibility. Mohammadu Buhari was another leader in Murtala's mould. He was booted out by General Babangida, another protegee of America's CIA. Unfortunately, the quality of leaders we've had since the time of Murtala and Buhari are shameful thieving lots, including the current President. Well said...

Murtala Muhammed represents one of the greatest tragedies that has befallen Nigeria. An unintelligent, ill disciplined, uncharismatic, unprincipled and nondescript failed soldier, it is indeed a measure of the extent to which the nation has been unlucky to have been saddled with such despicable characters that ultimately shaped Nigeria’s destruction. As fate would have it, the Jan. 1966 coup unleashed a chain of circumstances that threw up characters like Murtala Muhammed who ordinarily would have remained an isolated and unknown officer for the duration of his career.

In the aftermath of the Major Kaduna Nzeogwu led coup, Murtala Muhammed and other Northern officers organised a secessionist coup (Araba) and pogrom that targeted and consumed the lives of over 50,000 innocent Eastern civilians in the first barbarity of such a scale to be seen in Africa. Artisans, traders, civil servants, children were all hacked to death. Women were raped and killed, pregnant women were first raped, then had their stomach cut open, the unborn children plucked out and stabbed to death. It was an orgy of bloodbath that rivalled Hitler’s death camps in Nazi Germany. Murtala Muhammed personally participated in this bloodletting preparatory to seceding from Nigeria. The flag of the Northern republic was already flying and Yakubu Gowon had also preparatory to Northern secession given his now famous “no basis for Nigerian unity” speech.

However, before the smouldering flames and dust could settle, the face of crass opportunism by Murtala Muhammed, Yakubu Gowon and other Northern officers emerged. On persuasion by the British, desirous of a willing stooge to aid their exploitation of Nigeria’s resources, the officers who had premised their coup and pogrom on secession did a volte-face and changed from secession to “one Nigeria.” It is ironical that after displaying such barbarity and blood lust targeted at ordinary civilians who had no hand in a coup organised by the military-political class, the same officers that orchestrated and participated in such pogrom of genocidal proportions changed course and proved their lack of principles and opportunism by insisting on Nigeria.

But the damage had already been done. The mass killing of civilians had established a fault line and a sense of insecurity that made co-habitation in the same nation impossible. Yakubu Gowon had failed as head of state to protect the lives and property of citizens in repeated attacks, paving the way for the civil-war, but this was only to give the blood hungry likes of Murtala Muhammed a further opportunity to satisfy their lust for blood.

As the civil-war commenced, Murtala Muhammed entered the war in the Midwest campaign where he robbed the Central Bank in Benin, and began his litany of war crimes. Federal forces under his command unleashed a massacre of Ibos in Benin city and environs, however Asaba became the legendary centre were Murtala Muhammed set a record of war crimes. In a rain of blood, tens of thousands of innocent youths, some of them just 6 years old were lined up on the streets of Asaba and executed in cold blood on the direct orders of Murtala Muhammed. The Asaba massacre was the first of its kind in Africa and remains one of the bloodiest to date in the history of the African continent. As a further testimony to the bloodlust and depravity demonstrated by Murtala Muhammed and his forces, few kilometres away in Onitsha, another barbaric massacre was unleashed in the Apostolic Church where over 300 civilians, devout Christians including women and children who had stayed back and continued in their prayers after the fall of Onitsha were brutally murdered in cold blood.

No doubt, one of the greatest murderers, war criminals, and opportunists in Nigeria‘s chequered history, his entire war career is littered with war crimes committed in different theatres of war. But beyond his crude barbarity which he repeatedly manifested in the rape of women and cold blooded massacre of defenceless civilians, he was an ill disciplined, failed soldier who In spite of the immense amounts of men and ammunition at his disposal suffered crushing defeats in most of his military campaigns against barely armed Biafran soldiers. His military campaign to take Onitsha, where he acted against orders from military headquarters ended in a humiliating defeat, and his 96 vehicle column of heavily armed troops who were ambushed and totally wiped out at Abagana are some of the worst defeats suffered by the Nigerian army in the civil war. His string of tactical failures led to his exit from the war theatre.

In July 1975, he seized power in a coup but was shot dead in a military putsch in February 1976, at last a victim of the bullets he had used to kill so many. In the end he left behind a legacy of barbarities, war crimes, bank robbery, destruction of the federal civil service and failure as a soldier. An avowed secessionist who became an opportunist apostle of one Nigeria, not because he genuinely believed in Nigeria, but for reasons of opportunism. The emergence of his likes as leaders, remains the greatest reason why Nigeria has failed.

Murtala Muhammed’s hands are soiled with so much blood, and even though by his death he escaped justice in the physical, he is sure getting his punishment in the spiritual realm. His entire generation of descendants shall also continue to pay one way or the other for the sins of their father.

By Comrade Lawrence Chinedu Nwobu
http://asaba.com/?p=352

shymexx: This woman was super gangsta - she raised the greatest musician ever to come out of Africa!!

Hands high ma'am...

R.I.P

Rhino.5dm:
Stop lying! Majority of the sub standard roads constructed in Rivers State under Ameachi are NDDC projects. The NDDC, by extension the FG gave out these projects to militants as way of settlement.

berem: i have visited Nsukka once then passed thru 9th mile to Makurdi during my NYSC in 2005.can't remember the name of that road to Nsukka. Slept over at Enugu once. dude, Enugu is hilly apart from the hills i saw on my way to nsukka. I don't know what you mean by Enugu is not hilly except the hills have disappeared!

berem: whaaaat! Am hearing this for the first time. My Professor of Geography and Environmental Management must have taught me crap in school. WTF!

Abagworo: How did you come about the poor quality part? You cannot ascertain that by merely viewing it on TV. IMHO the quality of the roads are not up to standard or at least my desired standard like in Rivers State. Its more like Akwa-Ibom with normal drainage and laterite, hardcore,stonedust, tar. In Rivers 8feet of surface soil is dug out and refilled with "white sharp sand" before hardcore, stonedust and tarring. Laterite is prohibited in road construction as far as Rivers State is concerned. However the roads will last because of good but funny drainage. In terms of aesthetics, they are up to standard.

Abagworo: I understand where you are coming from but the entire Southeast is almost same as the Port Harcourt part of Rivers State. We experience heavy rainfall. Laterite is like clay and doesn't allow easy passage of water, and hence takes months or years before separation and rearrangement. Sharp sand on the other hand doesn't sink as it has enough cohesion. It is these holes formed in the long run from the laterite that results in potholes and chain gallops. Enugu/Okigwe/Abakaliki area has an advantage like Abuja because they are hilly and consist of rocky soil.

Abagworo: Looking at these pictures, you could only tell the quality of the roads if you met them at stage1(1st picture). The rest just lool beautiful and green like every other road. Roads in Rivers dont look beautiful and green but if you witness the materials used during construction, you would understand the quality. Notice the use of laterite on this road. Owerri is lucky not to be shanty and on a flatland, otherwise the fate of its roads wouldnt have been different from Aba and Onitsha.

The UK High Commission said it had great difficulty locating M.D. Yusufu, inspector general of police and one of the top six members of the Muhammed government, finally tracking him down shortly after noon "hiding” at his home. Yusufu's behaviour that Friday matched that of Murtalla Mohammed’s second in command, Olusegun Obasanjo, and

army chief -of-staff, Theophilus Danjuma and MEA commissioner Garba, which he characterized as "gutless." ---------1976 US DIPLOMATIC CABLES - RELEASED THIS WEEK BY WIKILEAKS

http://elombah.com/index.php/special-reports/15409-dimka-s-coup-obasanjo-danjuma-are-cowards-uk-high-commissioner

The UK High Commission said it had great difficulty locating M.D. Yusufu, inspector general of police and one of the top six members of the Muhammed government, finally tracking him down shortly after noon "hiding” at his home. Yusufu's behaviour that Friday matched that of Murtalla Mohammed’s second in command, Olusegun Obasanjo, and

army chief -of-staff, Theophilus Danjuma and MEA commissioner Garba, which he characterized as "gutless." ---------1976 US DIPLOMATIC CABLES - RELEASED THIS WEEK BY WIKILEAKS AND DISCOVERED BY ELOMBAH.COM.

Dimka's Visit To Uk High Commissioner

1. Lt. Col. B.S. dimka, the reported assassin of murtala muhammed, called on UK high commissioner Sir Martin Lequesne February 13 1976, about an hour after the late nigerian head of state was killed. Given below (paragraph 5 and following) is the verbatim text of the report of the conversation as submitted by lequesne to the fco. Lequesne gave me a copy of the report this morning.

2. Immediately after dictating the report friday morning, lequesne arranged for a copy of it to be taken urgently to m.d. ysufu, inspector general of police and one of the top six members of the muhammed government. The high commission had great difficulty locating yusufu, finally tracking him down shortly after noon "hiding " at his home. Le quesne told me this morning that yusufu's behavior on friday matched that of obasanjo, army chief-of-staff danjuma and mea commissioner garba, which he characterized as "gutless."

3. When finally located at mid-day friday, yusufu seemed resigned to whatever might happen to him, refusing a high commission offer to move him out of his house to a safe location "where he might be able to regroup his colleagues."

As for the behaviour of the other three, lequesne says he has been reliably informed that they "ran home" and changed into civilian clothes as soon as they heard the dimka broadcast. Garba was not heard from for the rest of the day.

Obasanjo made no appearance until mid-afternoon and chances for the counter-coup appeared good.

As for danjuma, he went to the bonny camp on victoria island around midday to rally loyalist military forces but was so unnerved and out-of-control that his principal staff officer col. Isama, had to take charge.

It was isama who persuaded the others that the operation to retake the radio station should be surgical and careful so as not to injure civilian technicians and equipment that would be needed if the attack were successful.

Danjuma had reportedly instructed that the station be "smashed down" with armored cars and heavy guns. It was isama who led the counterattack on radio station in the early afternoon.

(comment: this does not jibe with information from embassy's dao that attack on radio station was led by col. Ibrahim babangida, director of armor of the nigerian army. Dao saw babangida leading his armor past embassy chancery on way to station. Force consisted of three british scorpion tanks, two french ferret armored cars, three panhard armored cars with ninety millimeter guns, and three truck loads of infantry totalling about 100 men.)

4. Readers will note dimka's statement to lequesne to the effect that obasanjo had been killed. This corroborates indications we have received from other sources to the effect that he was indeed one of the targets of dimka's operation. We and the british surmise that col. Dumuja, who was shot in his mercedes automobile friday morning while proceeding along the same route to dodan barracks nromally followed by obasanjo, was mistaken for obasanjo.

5. Following is the text of Lequesne's memorandum to the FCO.

Quote:

1. At about 9:10 a.m. on 13 february the head of changery informed me that colonel dimka had come to the high commission and wished to see me. I went out to meet him. Three armed soldiers were in the outer waiting-room and colonel dimka, unarmed and without his cap, was in the inner waitng-room. I brought him into my room. He showed no particular sense of urgency or hurry at any stage in our conversation. The head of chancery was present throughout.

2.colonel dimka started by saying that he had taken control of the government and had come to ask me to transmit a message urgently to general gowon that he should come to togo. Generals muhammed and obasanjo had to his regret been killed "resisting arrest." i asked what had happened to general danjuma. Colonel dimka said that he had not yet been found. When he was it would depend on him. Colonel dimka indicated clearly that he meant by this that if general danjuma opposed the new "government" he too would be killed.

3. I asked colonel kimka why he had taken this step. His reply was far from clear. He said that under general muhammed the country was going communist, which was “contrary to our constitution" and to what the country wanted. "we" wanted to change the policy and get back to real non-alignment. The present situation was one-sided. A parti- cular group had been running the country in its own way. Genrral muhammed had accepted a bribe of twenty five million pounds from the russians.

4. He criticised the recent promotions to general rank which had ignored the established tradition of promotion. General dajnuma was not the best officer in the army. He had neglected the other ranks.

Many people had been sacked for corruption while others who had been equally corrupt continued to occupy high places. Those who had been corrupt would be dealt with by legal means. He implied that some of those recently dismissed would be reinstated though he denied, in reply to my euestion, that it was his intention to recall them all.


5. A lot of charges were needed at home. The present government had done noting but carry out probes. The military governors were being directed from lagos and had no opportunity to exercise individual initiative. "we" intend to draw a straight line under the past and get the country right again from its basic foundations. "none of us is interested in political appointments. We want someone to come in and reconcile the bad feelings." that is why general gowon should come back. There may have been a need for general gowon 's leadership to be changed, but he should have been given a chance to do this.

6. I told colonel dimka that, as a diplomatic representative it would be improper for me to play any part in nigerian domestic poli- tics. To send a message to general gowon as he requested would be to do just this. I could not therefore do what he wanted. Colonel dimka accepted this without demur and immediately changed his tack and said that what he wanted was that i should report what he had said to my government. I said that i would of course do this.

7. I asked colonel dimka who his colleagues were to whom he referred throughout as "we". His reply was again imprecise. He said "we are the young revolutionaries." he was the most senior officer in the group the others were majors. They had acted because the other ranks were waiting for a bloody rising. The coup in 1966 had been started by the other ranks.

8. I asked what support he had in the country. He said airily that there had been moves in ibadan, kaduna, kano and jos - but it struck me as he spoke that his reply was more an enumeration of the major cities outside lagos than the statement of a man who actually knew what was being done in these places.

9. I told colonel dimka that i found some contradiction between his claim to be a leader of young revolutionaries and his criticism of the government for a left-ward trend. He gave a rather vague reply to the effect that he and his colleagues wanted changes.

10. Our conversation ended at about 0945. I accompanied colonel dkmka outside to the waiting-room, and then to the top of the stairs. He said that he would return later to see me again. He did not.

11. I arranged for a copy of the telegram which i sent to london reporting this conversation to be shown to the inspector gen- eral of police later in the morning.

12. Colonel dimka was throughout calm and apparently under no feeling of urgency. I judged that the vagueness and incoherence of most of what he said was due not to any stress but to the fact that his ideas were indeed incoherent and unformulated. Even had he seriously wanted me to send a message to general gowon it was incredible that, having, as he claimed, just taken over the responsibility of government, he should take the time himself to come down to hajola house to make the request. But in fact he dropped his request without argument when i said i could not comply with it. There was something almost frivolous about the whole business and he left me with no impression that he was acting in accordance with any predetermined plan.

DICKtator: Wooow!!!. After collecting ransom? so sad!!!
I guess he was Ngige's deputy?
Cos i haven't heard of him talkless of his been kidnapped
R.I.P.

alj harem: very funny. The issue of tribalism on the internet (not only on nairaland) cannot be tackled by mere post, bans and warning. It has to start from the top, likes of Sun newspaper and Odili news. Also with like of Achebe and co inciting the young generations into tribalism, I am sorry but it cannot end, it can only be reduced in moments.

Take this from me. Thanks to Achebe, the progress black have made in years to unite has just been broken again.

Ogbonaikenna: To listen to the replay, visit www.radiobiafralondononline.com

Error 500 - Internal server error

An internal server error has occured!
Please try again later.

Dr.Tony:
Finally this makes news headlines, been awaiting that for a while, well we thank God things are getting a lot better, thanks to Prof MAC Aghaji and co. Well †ђε facilities is OK & †ђε foreign doctors has been doing their own part, training ours in †ђε art. They ve been in UNTH for weeks now. I was opportuned to be in †ђε theatre complex and here's some pictures