10 Things You Should Know About Murtala Mohammed, The Man On The 20 Naira Note
20 naira notes are not everywhere like they used to be before.
But at some point or the other in your current affairs life, you must have seen it and known that General Murtala Ramat Mohammed is the man on it.
Here are 10 facts you probably did not know about him
1. He joined the army in 1958 and as at 1966, he was a lieutenant colonel after working as aide-de-camp and chief of signals as well as other positions.
2. He worked as a federal commissioner (now Minister) of Communications
3. He took power as a military head of state after his predecessor and former boss, General Yakubu Gowon was overthrown while attending a summit of the now African Union in Uganda.
4. He was killed at the age of 37 in a coup led by Colonel Dimka in Lagos traffic in 1976. The black Mercedes which he was in is displayed at the National Museum, Onikan.
5. It was during his tenure that Abuja became the Federal Capital Territory due to overcrowding in Lagos.
6. He is responsible for creating the following states: Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Imo, Niger, Ogun and Ondo in 1975
7. Today, his portrait adorns the 20 Naira note and Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos is named in his honour.
8. He is the shortest reigning Head of state in Nigeria’s history coming into power in 1975 and murdered in 1976 barely for 201 days.
9. Murtala was a blunt, outspoken and consummate risk taker. It is said that he had no regard for the chain of command. While planning a coup against his own Commander-in-Chief, Gowon, Murtala, then a brigadier, went to Muhammed D Yusufu, who was Gowon’s Chief Security Officer (CSO) and told him point-blank that there was a plan for a coup and he could go and reveal it to ‘anyone he liked’. That was not Murtala’s first time of announcing a coup in such a blunt manner. He did the same in July 1966 before Aguiyi-Ironsi’s government collapsed.
