Friday, 13 February 1976 began like many other workdays in Lagos, heavy movement, slow junctions, impatient horns, and the familiar sense that the city would carry everyone along on its own timetable. General Murtala Ramat Mohammed, Nigeria’s Head of State, set out for Dodan Barracks. He was known for brisk decision making and a public facing style that often favoured speed over elaborate convoy rituals. That morning, the same habits that made him seem accessible also left him exposed.
By mid morning, the country learned that Mohammed had been assassinated in Ikoyi. It was not a distant battlefield death. It was a killing in the open, in traffic, in a city street setting that Nigerians could picture instantly.
The Ikoyi Ambush, Where It Happened and How It Unfolded
Accounts commonly place the ambush near the Federal Secretariat area in Ikoyi, at a point where traffic could slow vehicles and compress movement. The attackers chose a moment when the car could be boxed in. Gunmen approached and fired at close range. The attack was swift, purposeful, and clearly planned.
Murtala Mohammed was killed in the assault. His aide de camp, Lieutenant Akintunde Akinsehinwa, was also killed. Many reconstructions also record the death of his driver, Sergeant Adamu Michika. Some narratives identify an orderly as present, and the picture that emerges across retellings is consistent on one central fact, the visible protective shield around the Head of State that morning was thin compared to what Nigerians would expect today.
The violence of the scene, and the public nature of the setting, is part of why the day remains unforgettable. Lagos did not just hear about the assassination, it felt as though it happened within the city’s everyday life.
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A Coup Attempt, Announced on Radio Nigeria
The assassination was immediately tied to an attempted coup led by Lieutenant Colonel Bukar Suka Dimka. The coup plot did not rely only on weapons, it relied on control of information, fear, and speed. One of the most widely reproduced documents from the day is the broadcast attributed to Dimka on Radio Nigeria, in which he announced that the government had been overthrown and issued threats and directives aimed at establishing authority.
The broadcast is often described as airing shortly before 8.30 a.m. It created instant confusion, because radio in that era could turn rumour into national reality within minutes. Soldiers, civil servants, and ordinary residents were forced to ask the same question, was Nigeria still under its existing command, or had a new order taken over.
The broadcast also mattered for another reason. It put Dimka at the centre of the attempt in a way that would follow him, because a coup statement is not a private act, it is a public claim to power.
The Counter Move, How the Coup Collapsed the Same Day
Despite the radio announcement, the coup attempt failed to secure the machinery that actually controls a state, coordination across the armed forces, command acceptance, and the ability to hold key institutions. Loyalist elements rallied quickly and regained control within hours. The attempted takeover collapsed on the same day, even though its most devastating act, the assassination of the Head of State, had already succeeded.
Several accounts, including diplomatic reporting from the period, describe the outcome in straightforward terms, the coup failed, Mohammed was killed, and power shifted to his deputy within the ruling military structure. That sequence is the backbone of the historical record.
Obasanjo Takes Over, The Leadership Shift After the Shock
After the assassination and the defeat of the coup attempt, leadership passed to Olusegun Obasanjo. At the time, he was the senior deputy figure within the military government’s top structure, widely described as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters. He became Head of State in the immediate aftermath.
The succession was crucial for stability. It signalled that the coup plotters had not captured the state, and it helped prevent further fragmentation within the security forces. Under Obasanjo, the government continued with key state programmes already associated with the regime, including the transition planning that had been set in motion before Mohammed’s death.
The Manhunt, Dimka’s Capture, Trial, and Execution
After the coup collapsed, Dimka fled. A manhunt followed, and he was eventually captured near Abakaliki on 6 March 1976, a date repeatedly recorded in serious reconstructions of the crisis. He was tried by a military tribunal process, convicted, and executed by firing squad on 15 May 1976. Other convicted participants were also executed, although public summaries sometimes differ on the total number.
For many Nigerians, the speed of the initial violence, followed by the weeks of pursuit and tribunal proceedings, created a grim rhythm, sudden national trauma, then a long, tense closing of the net.
Who Killed Murtala Mohammed, What the Public Record Shows
When people ask who killed Murtala Mohammed, they usually mean two things at once, who led the plot, and who fired the shots in Ikoyi.
On responsibility and leadership, the public record strongly ties the assassination to the abortive coup attempt led by Dimka. The coup announcement, the operational link between the killing and the attempted takeover, and the subsequent tribunal outcomes fix Dimka as the central figure in the attempt.
On the identity of the individual shooter, public secondary sources vary in how much detail they provide, and many later retellings add names, clothing descriptions, and scene choreography that are not always presented consistently across documentary style accounts. What remains clear is the core event readers need to understand, Mohammed was assassinated in Ikoyi by soldiers acting within a coup operation, and the coup operation collapsed the same day.
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The Lasting Impact, Why That Morning Still Shapes Nigeria’s Memory
The assassination of Murtala Mohammed remains a defining political moment because it revealed how fragile authority can be when routine, visibility, and internal tension collide. A Head of State travelling through ordinary Lagos traffic became the target of a calculated strike. The coup failed, but the leadership of the nation changed within hours, and the emotional memory of vulnerability settled deeply into public consciousness.
In later years, Nigeria’s security architecture also evolved in ways linked by scholars and commentators to the shock of 1976. The wider lesson Nigerians draw from that morning is not only about ambition and betrayal, it is about the need for systems that can protect leadership, manage crisis, and prevent a small group from bringing the nation to the edge in a single commute.
Author’s Note
Every nation has a day that proves how thin the line can be between normal life and national emergency. 13 February 1976 is that kind of day for Nigeria, because it shows how routine can become danger, how a radio voice can attempt to claim a country, and how stability ultimately depends on institutions that can absorb shock, restore order, and protect the public trust when history turns suddenly.
References
Dr Nowa Omoigui, “The Dimka’s Coup Attempt of February 13, 1976”, including the reproduced Radio Nigeria coup announcement and narrative reconstruction.
United States Department of State, Office of the Historian, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969 to 1976, reporting that the 13 February coup failed, Mohammed was killed, and Obasanjo replaced him on 14 February 1976.
Human Rights Watch, “Violence, Godfathers and Corruption in Nigeria, Historical Background”, noting Mohammed’s murder during a failed coup and his succession by his deputy, Obasanjo.
The Guardian Nigeria, report on the National Museum Onikan remembrance exhibition, noting the Mercedes vehicle and commemorative record of the assassination date.
Punch Newspapers, report on a policy workshop by the Murtala Muhammed Foundation and the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, restating the Ikoyi ambush context and identifying Dimka’s role.
Ugochukwu, “The State Security Service and Human Rights in Nigeria”, 1997, tracing the roots of the NSO era to the events of 13 February 1976.
Max Siollun, “Oil, Politics and Violence, Nigeria’s Military Coup Culture, 1966 to 1976”, Algora Publishing, 2009, for extended historical context on the coup era and the 1976 crisis.
