For nearly half a century after his stint as Nigeria’s military leader,
Murtala Muhammed remained widely regarded as a dogged corruption fighter
who took fearless steps against official graft.
As head of state, the army general dismissed more than 10, 000 public
officials, charged many to court for malpractices, and moved against
fraudulent firms.
Mr. Muhammed’s administration lasted six months before his
assassination, but was long enough to convince many the 37-year-old was
one leader who could have aggressively treated – if not cured – Nigeria
of its chronic corruption, had he lived longer.
But to American diplomats, Mr. Muhammed was a strikingly different figure from the no-nonsense general many Nigerians respected.
They believed he was not only an arrogant mass murderer, but just as corrupt as those he went after.
And, although brilliant and daring, Mr. Muhammed was an erratic and
impetuous ethnic chauvinist who lacked the unifying talent of his
predecessor, Yakubu Gowon, American diplomats said at the time.
John E. Reinhardt, former US ambassador to Nigeria.
John E. Reinhardt, former US ambassador to Nigeria.
“The leader of the coup against General Yakubu Gowon is an erratic,
vainglorious, impetuous, corrupt, vindictive, intelligent, articulate,
daring Hausa,” a memorandum sent by then American Ambassador to Nigeria,
John Reinhardt, to then United States Secretary of State, Henry
Kissinger, on August 18, 1975, said.
The memo, amongst several recently declassified U.S. diplomatic cables,
painted a sordid picture of a man regarded by many Nigerians as a folk
hero of sort, for his seeming relentless war against corruption.
Mr. Reinhardt delivered the damning appraisal on the request of Mr.
Kissinger shortly after Mr. Muhammed deposed Mr. Gowon in a coup d’état.
The change of guard apparently triggered a feverish effort by the
American government to obtain the character portraits of the new coup
leaders of Africa’s most populous nation.
“Brigadier Murtala Muhammed was a prime force in the Nigerian coup of
July 1966, which brought Gowon to power, and is one of the two principal
plotters against Gowon for the past two years,” Mr. Reinhardt wrote.
“He commanded a division during the Nigerian civil war, was involved in
the only documented case of genocide, won one important battle, and
thereafter coasted for upwards of two years until Gowon finally removed
him from command and placed him in charge of Army signals, a position
which he held until last month…coup.”
While Mr. Muhammed led Nigeria for less than a year before being
overthrown, he featured for about a decade in the realms of military and
political power.
He was also controversial. During the war against the secessionist
Biafra Republic, Mr. Muhammed commanded the army’s second division which
was accused of executing thousands of civilians in Asaba, Delta State,
in what is now known as the Asaba Massacre.
The division was also accused of ordering the killing of several Biafran prisoners of war.
After he took office in 1975, Mr. Muhammed moved fiercely against corruption, earning praise.
But the U.S. cable depicted him differently.
One letter to Washington says Mr. Muhammed inherited from Mr. Gowon –
and also contributed to – a “tradition of corrupt civilian and military
officials, urban problems second only to those of Calcutta, drift and
ineptitude in development, insoluble but containable ethnic problems,
and a national temperament which combines pride, aggressiveness,
arrogance and patriotism into a brand of xenophobia best labeled
Nigerianism”.
“Almost six years after the civil war, Muhammed is probably ushering in a
period of coups,” the cable said. “As a corrupt Hausa, he automatically
attracts Ibo and Yoruba enmity, which he knows and has attempted to
reduce by early appointments. As a Northerner and a Muslim, he will be
expected to consolidate once and for all the leadership role which his
fifty million brothers are certain is theirs. Muhammed will agree, of
course, but will seem to the Hausas to vacillate as he sings ‘One
Nigeria’.”
The Murtala Mohammed Foundation did not respond to a request for
comment. Mr. Muhammed’s daughter, Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode, who heads the
foundation, could not be reached. Calls and a text message to her phone
were not answered.
Balaraba Ramat Yakubu, author and younger sister of the former head of
state, said she was not in a position to respond. She advised we contact
the foundation’s head office in Lagos. Calls to available numbers to
the office did not go through.
Michael Ogbeidi, professor and head of department of History and
Strategic Studies, University of Lagos, who has researched and written
extensively on political leadership and corruption in Nigeria since
1960, said he rejected the American assessment.
“America should put its house in order first and stop acting as the most honest nation in the world,” Mr. Ogbeidi said.
He said Mr. Reinhardt spoke “un-ambassadorially”, and suggested the
Americans may have been unhappy with Mr. Murtala because of his tough
stance against “corrupt” American companies that violated Nigerian laws.
“I completely disagree with that assessment because no country houses
corrupt business entities like the USA; and this is evidenced in the
collapse of the country’s housing, mortgage and auto sectors,” he said.
Eric Teniola, a veteran journalist, who was the Oyo State Bureau Chief
for the Nigerian Herald at the time, also disagreed with the Americans.
“I am unable to agree with the Americans that he was corrupt because
although there were lots of allegations at the time, they were never
proven,” Mr. Teniola said. As far as I am concerned, he was a brave and
committed administrator, never afraid of taking tough decisions and then
standing firmly by them. He was a straightforward man. He was never
sly.
“But it is true that he has high temper and was not much of a team
player. He also displayed indiscipline in the way he related with Gowon
during the war.”
Mr. Reinhardt, who was the U.S. top diplomat to Nigeria from 1971 to
1975, said while there was no reason to believe that Mr. Murtala could
approach Mr. Gowon’s success in accommodating ethnic rivalries, there
was also no reason to think that he would be any more successful in
rapidly developing the country.
“…And rapidity is the great need if he is to avoid Gowon’s political
problems stemming from stymied development,” he said. “Money is
obviously plentiful, but absorptive capacity is low (corruption,
unrealistic planning, confused priorities, and a demonstrated reluctance
to turn to the outside).”
The cable had fewer words about Mr. Obasanjo, who later succeeded Mr.
Muhammed after his death, and would later become Nigeria’s civilian
president.
12 Oct 1977, Manhattan, New York, USA: Lt. General Olusegun Obasanjo of
Nigeria addressing the United Nations. [Photo Credit: CORBIS]
12 Oct 1977, Manhattan, New York, USA: Lt. General Olusegun Obasanjo of
Nigeria addressing the United Nations. [Photo Credit: CORBIS]
It pointed to the duo’s activism against apartheid in Southern Africa, and suspected they were anti-American.
“Finally, Muhammed and his co-plotter and now deputy, Brigadier Olusegun
Obasanjo, are the most militant of Nigerian military leaders on the
Southern African question. Gowon and his principal lieutenants burned
with the rage of all Africans when considering this issue, but they were
realistic,” he said.
“Muhammed and Obasanjo are advocates of a NATO-type military command
within the OAU having the avowed objective of strengthening liberation
movements. More responsibility may bring more realism. On the other
hand, formidable ethnic and developmental problems could convince the
new leadership that they should deal repressively with the domestic
scene while joining militant Arabs and Africans in organizing a Pan
African jihad for liberation. (A large Libyan delegation visited Lagos
last week.)
Murtala Mohammed and Olusegun Obasanjo on 31 July,1975, a day after taking office. [Photo credit: Nigerian Bulletin]
Murtala Mohammed and Olusegun Obasanjo on 31 July,1975, a day after taking office. [Photo credit: Nigerian Bulletin]
“Muhammed and Obasanjo are unlikely to bring any more inspiration to
this enterprise than Nkrumah and Amin. At any rate they do not enhance
their prospects for survival by any launchings on this uncharted course.
Yorubas and Ibos, at least, will be disinclined to travel with them.”
Mr. Reinhardt said an early but “undocumented and probably inaccurate
assessment” was that certainly Mr. Muhammed and perhaps Mr. Obasanjo
were anti-American. He said that reaction was based on “an unfortunate
U.S. visa restriction entered in Muhammed’s passport and Obasanjo’s
impulsive move to evict our Embassy from prime Lagos property.”
“We are simply too far apart on the political issues which they exalt,
mainly Southern Africa and the whole range of UN controversies,” he
said.
He said the U.S. stood greater chance in the economic-commercial area,
and noted that Mr. Muhammed had demonstrated some responsiveness in that
regard.
“When the corrupt Muhammed succeeded the more corrupt J. S. Tarka as
Commissioner of Communications, he immediately perceived that at least
the telephones must operate properly if his fate were to be any
different from Tarka’s.
“American businessmen, in extended conversations with me, described
Muhammed as being un-Nigerian in his acceptance of their proposals.
Specifically GTE and ITT were close to multi-million dollar contracts
when Muhammed turned from communications to plotting.”
He assessed that Mr. Muhammed was intelligent enough to realise that he
could not survive unless he converted oil revenues into tangible
development.
“Among his considerable faults is not Idi Arminian stupidity,” he wrote.
“His questionable maneuverings as Commissioner reveal a respect for
American technology and a realization that capital markets do not begin
and end in London. (British and Canadian communications interests have
absorbed Nigerian revenues for years without producing a workable
system. Other fields point up similar examples, as USG (Unites States
Government) policy has deferred to a British sphere of influence.)
Amongst the recommendations Mr. Reinhardt sent to Washington, was an
advice that the U.S. avoid even semblance of close political ties to the
new regime, “until and unless it proves more durable than now seems
likely”.
Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon
Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon
On the contrary, he advised the American government to maintain discreet
and friendly state ties with Mr. Gowon, though avoiding commitments.
“After another coup or two, probably bloody, Gowon may seem more and
more to be the indispensable military leader, or at least the only
acceptable one,” he concluded.
Mr. Reinhardt was the first black U.S. ambassador to Nigeria. In 1977,
he became the first career diplomat to lead the U.S. Information Agency.
He died on February 18, 2016 at 95.
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