Aisha Muhammed, daughter of former Nigerian Head of State, General Murtala Ramat Muhammed, has said her father’s modest lifestyle and rejection of excessive security played a major role in his assassination. Speaking on ARISE News to mark 50 years since his death, she described him as a leader who lived by discipline, accountability, and personal integrity, values that shaped both his legacy and his vulnerability.
Okay News reports that Aisha explained that General Muhammed deliberately avoided motorcades, sirens, and heavy security, choosing instead to live like the average Nigerian. This simplicity, she noted, placed him directly in harm’s way on February 13, 1976, when coup plotters intercepted his vehicle in traffic and killed him while he was obeying traffic rules like everyone else.
General Muhammed ruled Nigeria for just 200 days after taking power in 1975, but his impact was far-reaching. His administration carried out sweeping anti-corruption reforms, dismissed thousands of public officials, created new states, and laid the groundwork for Nigeria’s return to civilian rule, as well as the relocation of the federal capital from Lagos to Abuja.
