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Nigeria’s General Murtala Muhammad , Africa’s Son who contributed to the Liberation of South Africa And Republic of Namibia.

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Late General Murtala Muhammad

<p><&excl;-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"3SG4G8ff" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>By&colon; Zubair A Zubair<&sol;p><div class&equals;"Blgwptc2" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Leaders spends time to read &comma;carefully read this article if you want to make a good leader &period; History&colon; Throughout our history&comma; Africa has had her own men and women as outstanding fighters for Liberation of Africa &comma; One of them is late Nigerian Military President General Murtala Rufai Ramat Muhammed &lpar;8 November 1938 – 13 February 1976&rpar; was the military ruler &lpar;Head of the Federal Military Government&rpar; of Nigeria from 1975 until his assassination in 1976&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"IqIboczm" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;" &NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"6550225277"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>MILITARY CARREER&colon; Murtala Muhammed joined the Nigerian Army in 1958&period; He spent short training stints in Nigeria and Ghana and then was trained as an officer cadet at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy in England&comma; he subsequently took a specialized signals course in the tenth arm specialty of Signal at Carrerick Garrison&period; After his training&comma; he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1961 and assigned to the Nigerian Army Signals that same year&comma; later spending a short stint with the Nigerian No&period; 3 Brigade&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Assassination&colon; Murtala Muhammed was killed&comma; aged 37&comma; along with his Aide-De-Camp &lpar;ADC&rpar;&comma; Lieutenant Akintunde Akinsehinwa&comma; in his black Mercedes Benz saloon car on 13 February 1976&comma; in an abortive coup attempt led by Lt&period; Col Buka Suka Dimka &comma; when his car was ambushed en route to his office at Dodan Barracks&comma; Lagos &period; The only visible sign of protection was a pistol carried by his orderly&comma; therefore making his assassination an easy task&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO LIBERATION OF AFRICA&colon; In the case of Murtala Muhammad and South Africa General Murtala Muhammed recognized the political dimension of the South African liberation war&comma; as shown in his masterful speech&comma; Africa Has Come of Age&comma; delivered at the OAU Summit in Addis Ababa&comma; on 11 th January 1976&period; South Africa viewed itself as the protector of Western Civilization on the continent&comma; embarrassing its Western sponsors with the crudity of its racist ideology&period; In its own version of the American Monroe Doctrine&comma; it stated its right to dominate all of Africa south of the Equator&period; Subscribing to Bismark’s geopolitical ideas&comma; it regarded this area of millions of square kilometres as its &OpenCurlyQuote;legitimate sphere of influence’&comma; which endeared it to the then American Secretary of State&comma; Henry Kissinger&semi; another student of Bismarck’s outmoded 19 th century doctrine&period; Given the international distaste for its racist policy&comma; which made it a pariah&comma; it insisted on having buffer states between its borders and the Equator&comma; which would not challenge its apartheid policies&period; It therefore supported Portuguese colonialism in Angola and Mozambique&comma; Ian Smith’s racism in Rhodesia&comma; and the neo-colonialism of the USA&comma; France&comma; Belgium and the UK in the other countries&period; Nations such as Tanzania&comma; Mozambique&comma; and to a lesser extent Zambia were subject to orchestrated terror&comma; and Angola became the arena where the racists hoped to crush the challenge to its hegemony&period; Murtala Muhammed accepted this challenge&comma; and harnessed the resources of his country to establish the freedom of Angola under the leadership of the MPLA&period; Murtala estagblished very forcefully that the fight was between African Nationalism&comma; the right of the black man to freedom&comma; and Western Imperialism which condemned the African to slavery for the past five centuries&period; There was no question of Apartheid South Africa fighting the political red herring of International Communism&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nigeriantracker&period;com&sol;2021&sol;06&sol;15&sol;democracy-day-abba-risqua-murtala-muhammad-joins-apc&sol;">Democracy Day &colon;Abba Risqua Murtala Muhammad Joins APC<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Proof was the economic&comma; military&comma; and diplomatic support given to Apartheid by the US&comma; which kept its huge African-American minority as second class citizens&period; Although Nigeria contributed money and some ammunition to the MPLA&comma; its vital contribution was political&period; The OAU was a hodgepodge of nations from right&comma; left and centre&comma; which tended to adopt vacuous policies&comma; the least common denominator in political terms&comma; bland&comma; uncontroversial&comma; and unthreatening&period; One of these was the policy of giving equal support to all liberation movements&comma; regardless of effectiveness or coloration&period; Since all the occupied territories which the OAU was committed to liberate had multiple &OpenCurlyQuote;liberation movements’&comma; it was possible for &OpenCurlyQuote;freedom fighters’ to collect money from the organization’s headquarters in Addis Ababa and spend it right there&comma; in the expensive hotels of that great city&period; In the case of Angola&comma; which the Summit was convened to discuss&comma; Murtala showed not just the futility but also the danger of this policy&period; While the OAU was obliged to support the movements equally&comma; the policy put no constraints on outside forces&period; Thus the USA&comma; Mobutu’s Congo&comma; and South Africa allied with the FLNA and UNITA to destroy the MPLA&comma; the movement which controlled most of the country&comma; and had the resources to lead the country in the anti-imperialist struggle&period; In this situation Murtala demonstrated that this policy was a formula for inaction while imperialism did its worst&period; The open support given by racist South Africa to the FLNA and UNITA showed that these movements were beyond the pale&comma; their alliance a threat to all Africans&period; His analysis also put the pro-Western majority in the OAU on the spot&comma; because of the West’s support for Apartheid’s objectives in Angola and the rest of Southern Africa&period; His speech which capped a period of vigorous Nigerian diplomacy forced a basically conservative group to recognize the MPLA as the sole legitimate government in Angola&period; Culled from &lpar;Reflections on Nigerian Leadership&colon; Murtala Muhammad By Patrick Wilmot Former Professor of Sociology&comma; Ahmadu Bello University&comma; Zaria&comma; Nigeria&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>HIS SERVICE &colon; He &lpar;General Murtala Muhammad&rpar; was<br &sol;>&NewLine;1- Head of the Federal Military Government of Nigeria from July 30&comma; 1973&comma; until he was assassinated on February 13&comma; 1976&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;2- He sponsored The Southern Africa Relief Fund&comma; launched in Nigeria in 1977&comma; for public contributions in support of African liberation struggles&comma; received over twenty million naira&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;3- International Seminar on the Eradication of Apartheid and in Support of the Struggle for Liberation in South Africa&comma; organised by the Special Committee against Apartheid in Havana from May 24 to 28&comma; 1976<br &sol;>&NewLine;4- &&num;8220&semi;Programme of Action against Apartheid&&num;8221&semi;&comma; endorsed by the General Assembly&comma; in resolution 31&sol;6 J of November 9&comma; 1976<br &sol;>&NewLine;5- International Conference in Support of the Peoples of Zimbabwe and Namibia &lpar;Maputo&comma; May 16-21&comma; 1977&rpar;&comma; organised by the United Nations in consultation with the Organisation of African Unity&semi; World Conference against Colonialism&comma; Racism and Apartheid in Southern Africa &lpar;Lisbon&comma; June 16-20&comma; 1977&rpar;&comma; organised by non-governmental organisations&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;6- A study of United States policy towards southern Africa&comma; prepared for the National Security Council in 1969 and classified secret&comma; was published by the press in 1975&period; Throughout her history&comma; Africa has had her own men and women who have shone forth as outstanding fighters for such a full life&period; We refer to giants such as Chief Albert Luthuli&comma; Eduardo Mondlane&comma; Amilcar Cabral&comma; Kwame Nkrumah&comma; Gamal Abdel Nasser&comma; Mohammed V and others&period; AFRICAN LEADERS ACKNOWLEDGING GENERAL MURTALA MUHAMMAD CONTRIBUTIONS TO LIBERATION OF AFRICA STATES&colon; O&period;R Tambo in August 1977 in Lagos eighteen month after Gen&period;Murtala Muhammad&&num;8217&semi;s assassination has these to say&colon; We refer also to the late General Murtala Muhammed&lpar;2&rpar; who&comma; hardly eighteen months ago in Addis Ababa&comma; said&comma; &&num;8220&semi;when I contemplate the evils of apartheid my heart bleeds&&num;8230&semi;&&num;8221&semi;&period; We did not know then that a month later Murtala Muhammed&grave;s heart would bleed for the last time&comma; through fatal wounds opened by the hands of crazed assassins&period; Neither did the world know then that five months later the blood of South African youth&comma; men&comma; women and children would flow in the streets of Soweto&comma; Langa&comma; Mameledi&comma; Alexandra and other black ghettos at the hands of the same enemy forces&period; The enemies of progress were frightened by the fact that he actively led this great nation into the frontline of the struggle to destroy the apartheid regime at a time when that regime was trying to reverse the historical process in Angola&comma; as it has attempted to do in South Africa&comma; Namibia and Zimbabwe&comma; away from the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination&comma; away from freedom from want and fear&period; Mr&period; President&comma; this World Conference for Action against Apartheid has therefore an obligation to honour the memory of this great hero&comma; to honour him in a manner befitting a man of resolute and revolutionary action&period; Speech at Crucial Stage in the Struggle for Liberation of Southern Africa &&num;8211&semi; Statement at the World Conference for Action against Apartheid by O&period; R&period; Tambo&comma; Lagos&comma; Nigeria&comma; 23 August 1977&period; GENERAL MURTALA MUHAMMAD&&num;8217&semi;S SPEECH THAT SHOCKED THE WORLD&colon; Here’s the conclusion of his brilliant oration at the OAU Summit a month before his Death&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Africa has come of age&period; It is no longer under the orbit of any extra continental power&period; It should no longer take orders from any country&comma; however powerful&period; The fortunes of Africa are in our hands to make or to mar&period; For too long have we been kicked around&colon; for too long have we been treated like adolescents who cannot discern their interests and act accordingly&period; For too long has it been presumed that the African needs outside &OpenCurlyQuote;experts’ to tell him who are his friends and who are his enemies&period; The time has come when we should make it clear that we can decide for ourselves&semi; that we know our own interests and how to protect those interests&semi; that we are capable of resolving African problems without presumptuous lessons in ideological dangers which&comma; more often than not&comma; have no relevance for us&comma; nor for the problem at hand&period;” This speech was a manifesto of African liberation&comma; a guide to its future&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>HIS SUPPORTS&colon; The Government of Nigeria under General MURTALA MUHAMMAD as Military President gave Nelson Mandela £10&comma;000 for his self keep when he travelled north from his apartheid hellhole&period; Over 6&comma;000 South Africans Enjoyed Free Education sponsored by his Regime&period; He supported SWAPO Leader Dr Sam Nujoma of Namibia with weapons and Cash &period; After Namibia had gained Independence about two decades after his assassination&period; The Government of the Republic of Namibia Named a Road &lpar;express&rpar; before the fallen Nigerian Military Leader as a way to Immortalize his contributions to Namibia&&num;8217&semi;s Liberation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The above story is compiled by<br &sol;>&NewLine;Zubair A Zubair&comma; a Nigerian based columnist&comma; Pan Africanist&comma; and he could be reach through his Email&colon; Zubairkano118&commat;gmail&period;com<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;-- END THEIA POST SLIDER -->&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"autorelaxed" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1004305389"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad5" id&equals;"quads-ad5" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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