The 37th
anniversary of the death of General Murtala Mohammed was conspicuously bypassed
by all of the national dailies in the country yesterday. Gen. Mohammed was
assassinated in a coup plot on Friday, 13 February, 1976, exactly 37 years yesterday.
Nigeria’s fourth Head of States was assassinated on his way to office in the
then capital city of Lagos. However, the anniversary did not receive a
mention in the Nigerian media yesterday.
Even President Good Luck Jonathan had only made statement about
the anniversary of the great hero of African continent through his social media
channels, equating late Mohammed’s famous speech of “Africa Has Come Of Age”
with the victory of the country’s national team. The statement reads:
“Today marks the 37th anniversary of the death of General Murtala Ramat
Mohammed, the great patriot who paid the ultimate price for Nigeria. I urge all
Nigerians to remember the life and times of this hero of Nigeria who proved the
truism in the maxim that people may die but ideas never die.
“But perhaps most prophetic is his speech at the Organization of
African Unity (OAU) in January of 1976 where he said ‘Africa Has Come Of Age’.
Almost 37 years to the day, all Nigerians celebrate our victorious Super Eagles
who to paraphrase Murtala’s words, proved that Nigeria ‘has come of age’.”
Culled from People’s Daily
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