"African President Who Was Assassinated 33 Days After His Fiery Speech Against the America"

"African President Who Was Assassinated 33 Days After His Fiery Speech Against the America"

General Murtala Muhammed, Nigeria's military Head of State, was assassinated on February 13, 1976, just 33 days after delivering one of Africa's most defiant speeches against foreign interference.

The controversy began in late 1975 when civil war broke out in Angola shortly after the country gained independence from Portugal. The United States backed the UNITA rebel movement and urged African nations not to recognize the Soviet-backed MPLA government. U.S. President Gerald Ford even wrote to African leaders seeking support for Washington's position.

Instead of responding privately, General Muhammed publicly released the letter and rejected what he viewed as foreign interference in Africa's affairs. During an extraordinary Organization of African Unity (OAU) summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on January 11, 1976, he declared that Africa was mature enough to determine its own future without being dictated to by foreign powers. Nigeria also led the campaign for African countries to recognize the MPLA government in Angola.

To further demonstrate his government's position, Muhammed declined a request by U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to pay him an official visit, signalling Nigeria's refusal to bow to external pressure.

Just 33 days later, Muhammed was assassinated during an attempted military coup led by Lieutenant Colonel Buka Suka Dimka. The 37-year-old leader was travelling through Lagos in an unarmoured official Mercedes-Benz when gunmen ambushed his vehicle in traffic, killing him, his driver, and his aide-de-camp.

Although the coup plotters briefly announced a takeover on national radio, loyalist troops quickly crushed the rebellion. Dimka and several of his co-conspirators were later captured, tried, and executed.