Murtala Muhammed: Difference between revisions

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== Nigerian civil war ==

During the Nigerian Civil War, Mohammed was General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Nigerian Army's 2nd Division. This division was responsible for beating back the Biafran Army from the midwest region, as well as crossing the River Niger and linking up with the 1st Division, which was marching down from Nsukka and Enugu. At the border town of Asaba, in the Igbo-speaking part of the midwest region, Mohammed was accused of leading his troops in one of the most gruesome episodes of the entire war. According to observers and foreign journalists, he lined up any able-bodied men he could find along a wall and had them face a firing squad. Their crime seems to have been aiding and abetting of the Biafran troops by allowing them into the midwest due their common Igbo heritage, even though the midwest was still in Nigeria. To further compound matters, there were tales of women (even some who were pregnant) being raped and then killed. Mohammed steadfastly denied these claims during the war, but conceded after the war that his troops may have gotten carried away. He never proffered an apology, however.

~~Car in which Murtala Mohammed was assassinated.~~

Mohammed's second encounter with disaster during the war happened shortly after, as he attempted to cross the River Niger to Biafra. Despite the recommendation of his superiors at Army Headquarters in Lagos that he wait for the bridge, which had been blown up by the retreating Biafran forces, to be rebuilt, he felt they were trying to deprive him of his glory by delaying him, and insisted on a riverine crossing. This type of crossing was not one that the Nigerian Army was well prepared for, and as a result their passage was clumsy and bogged down midstream, making them easy targets for the Biafran shoreline guns on the other side. Twice he was beaten back, before finally making it through on his third attempt, albeit with significant losses in men and supplies. Shortly after this, another similar disaster in Abagana, where a Biafran roadside bomb caused a fuel tank in a large supply transport to explode, destroying almost all of the transport's supplies. Mohammed already reeling from his humiliating experiences crossing the Niger, and fed up with reprimands from Army HQ, decided to quit his command and left for an extended holiday in the United Kingdom, but not before threatening to resign his commission.

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 == Nigerian civil war ==
 During the Nigerian Civil War, Mohammed was General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Nigerian Army's 2nd Division. This division was responsible for beating back the Biafran Army from the midwest region, as well as crossing the River Niger and linking up with the 1st Division, which was marching down from Nsukka and Enugu. At the border town of Asaba, in the Igbo-speaking part of the midwest region, Mohammed was accused of leading his troops in one of the most gruesome episodes of the entire war. According to observers and foreign journalists, he lined up any able-bodied men he could find along a wall and had them face a firing squad. Their crime seems to have been aiding and abetting of the Biafran troops by allowing them into the midwest due their common Igbo heritage, even though the midwest was still in Nigeria. To further compound matters, there were tales of women (even some who were pregnant) being raped and then killed. Mohammed steadfastly denied these claims during the war, but conceded after the war that his troops may have gotten carried away. He never proffered an apology, however.
-Car in which Murtala Mohammed was assassinated.
 Mohammed's second encounter with disaster during the war happened shortly after, as he attempted to cross the River Niger to Biafra. Despite the recommendation of his superiors at Army Headquarters in Lagos that he wait for the bridge, which had been blown up by the retreating Biafran forces, to be rebuilt, he felt they were trying to deprive him of his glory by delaying him, and insisted on a riverine crossing. This type of crossing was not one that the Nigerian Army was well prepared for, and as a result their passage was clumsy and bogged down midstream, making them easy targets for the Biafran shoreline guns on the other side. Twice he was beaten back, before finally making it through on his third attempt, albeit with significant losses in men and supplies. Shortly after this, another similar disaster in Abagana, where a Biafran roadside bomb caused a fuel tank in a large supply transport to explode, destroying almost all of the transport's supplies. Mohammed already reeling from his humiliating experiences crossing the Niger, and fed up with reprimands from Army HQ, decided to quit his command and left for an extended holiday in the United Kingdom, but not before threatening to resign his commission.