Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president, said that General Murtala Muhammed, a former head of state, might not have been killed if the government at the time had taken security seriously.
He said that the death of the late military leader showed that the government at the time was too relaxed about security.
Obasanjo, who took over for Murtala after the failed coup on February 13, 1976, talked about this in an interview on News Central TV.
He said that the relaxed security around Murtala was due to what he called “naivety.”
Obasanjo said that Murtala was a brave and sure leader who thought he was doing the right thing for Nigeria, so he had nothing to be afraid of.
Obasanjo, on the other hand, said that belief turned out to be a costly error.
He remembered that Murtala didn’t care much about his own safety when he was in Lagos. He even drove himself around as the military Head of State.
Obasanjo said he had told Murtala how dangerous it was to be in the public eye, but the late leader did not take it seriously.
Obasanjo said, “If we hadn’t been so naive, Murtala wouldn’t have died the way he did.”
He went on to say that the leaders at the time wrongly thought that no one would oppose them because they were acting in the best interests of the country.
“We thought he was doing the right thing.” So what did we have to be afraid of? Obasanjo said this.
The former president said that the government didn’t expect the level of conspiracy that later came to light. He said that the coup plotters took advantage of the relaxed attitude toward security.
During a failed coup by soldiers who didn’t like Murtala’s rule, he was killed in Lagos. His death suddenly ended a government that had promised big changes and a move to civilian rule.
