Fifty years after the assassination of former Head of State, Murtala Muhammed, fresh memories have resurfaced through the emotional recollection of his former orderly, Michael Otuwe (retd.), who witnessed the failed 1976 coup firsthand.

In a rare interview conducted a decade ago and now revisited to mark the anniversary, the retired soldier recounts how the charismatic leader almost escaped his attackers, his experiences during the civil war, and the personal sacrifices that defined years of close service to one of Nigeria’s most revered military figures.

Recalling his journey into the military during the interview with Daily Trust, Otuwe narrated, “I am an Igala man from Olamoboro Local Government of Kogi State. I attended Ankpa Primary School and Ankpa Model Secondary School before I joined the profession I cherished most, the army.”

According to him, he enlisted in the Nigerian Army on September 11, 1967, at the Ikeja Military Cantonment in Lagos, where he underwent six months of training on the eve of the Nigerian Civil War.

“After the training I was posted to the Nigerian Army Signal Corps and incidentally, Murtala Ramat Mohammed was a Colonel then and the Inspector of Signals,” he added.

Otuwe said Muhammed personally chose him because of his discipline and neatness.

“He told me that he noticed how immaculate I was in my army dress when we do master parade. He picked me to be his orderly when I was a Lance Corporal,” he said.

He explained that he served closely with Muhammed through various postings, including during the civil war when the late General became the first General Officer Commanding of the Second Division of the Nigerian Army.

“I worked with him till he was killed, and that was 11 years,” Otuwe said, noting that during the period the General had three children, Aisha, Zakari and Fatima.

Otuwe described Muhammed as a strategic and disciplined military commander.

“He was an organiser of men and their welfare. He was smart and hardworking and thought of Nigeria first before anything,” he said.

He recalled an incident when Biafran soldiers encircled them.

“He did a wonderful tactical manoeuvre and retreated that baffled even we that were with him. When many wanted to surrender, he made a quest to fight and to win for Nigeria to continue as a united country.”

Surviving Ambushes

The retired soldier recounted several ambushes encountered during the war. He said, “We encountered many ambushes and attacks but one of the most memorable was when we were encircled at Ukpo Junction in Abbagana. Murtala did a tactical manoeuvre and withdrew and prepared for a defensive attack that led to the capture of many towns and cities.”

Otuwe added that after some operations, troops moved through Asaba and later to Idah in present-day Kogi State to prepare for further offensives.

“In 1968, there was a reshuffle that took General Murtala back to Lagos as Minister of Communications and Inspector of Signals. That meant he was doing two jobs at the same time,” he said.

Speaking on how his job affected his family, Otuwe said his wife had become accustomed to military life.

“She was married to a soldier, and she had become part of the system. When she saw us at home, it meant we were off duty,” he said.

He added that his children rarely saw him due to his demanding schedule.

“Most of my children almost forgot me as I left home at dawn and came back late in the night,” Otuwe noted.

Secret Visits, Price Monitoring

Otuwe also recounted how Muhammad disguised himself to monitor market prices in Lagos.

“I and his ADC, Lieutenant Akintunde Akinterinwa, once followed him to survey prices and the rising cost of goods,” he said.

“He wore a tracksuit, a face cap and dark goggles and rode a horse to a filling station, disembarked, tied it and entered Sangross (Lagos Island), then Ajegunle and later Agege markets. The ADC pretended that we were not together, and the ADC was writing the prices, and I was pretending to be a window shopper. A market woman told him to give other buyers a chance as people were more disciplined then, as everybody queued for their turn. After two weeks goods and meat came in ships. People tagged the meat as ‘Murtala Meat’”.

A former Chief of Staff to Governor Seyi Makinde and senior Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Oyo State, Bisi Ilaka, has officially resigned his membership of the party.

The leadership of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) has reacted to the United States Government’s move to blacklist Rabiu Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano State. The party reacting to the US Congress’s proposal to impose a visa ban on Kwankwao, its former presidential candidate, called for an investigation into the process and the allegations.

Recall that US Congressman, Riley Moore and some other lawmakers sponsored a bill seeking to sanction Kwankwaso, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) and the Fulani herders over allegations of gruesome killings and severe religious freedom violations.

However, the National Publicity Secretary of NNPP, Ladipo Johnson demanded that Kwankwaso be cleared.

According to Johnson, the claim that Kwankwaso is involved in any form of religious freedom violation can be described as a contrived action against an innocent man.

Stating that the former governor’s dossier is in the public domain for anyone who cares to see, Johnson said Kwankwaso has no relationship with religious fundamentalism in Nigeria.

He further linked the US Congressmen’s attempt to sanction Kwankwaso to the former governor’s reaction towards the recent designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern by President Donald Trump.

Kwankwaso, shortly after Trump’s proclamation of Nigeria as a CPC, had taken to X to caution the US against oversimplified characterisations of Nigeria’s internal challenges.

The former governor in his post maintained that Nigeria is a sovereign nation whose people face different threats from outlaws across the country.

His post on X, attracted a reply from Moore who wrote, “Governor do you care to comment on your own complicity in the death of Christians? You instituted sharia law. You signed the law that makes so-called blasphemy punishable by death.”

Further citing some of the achievements of Kwankwaso, Johnson said, “We recall that as governor of Kano State, Senator Kwankwaso ensured that the Boko Haram sect was wiped out of the state and his close relationships with Christian leaders in Kano and across the country attest to his credibility as a national leader and statesman.

“Even when he was pressured to introduce Sharia, he still lost his election because the predominantly Muslim voters punished him for supporting a Christian Presidential Candidate, in the person of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Furthermore, in 2023 he ran his presidential campaign with a Christian Bishop, Bishop Isaac Idahosa as his running mate,” he added.

The NNPP further called on the US Congress, Moore to retrace its steps by conducting a thorough investigation into the allegations levelled against its leader.