In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 1938
- Died
- 1976
- Birthplace
- Kano, Nigeria
- Country
- Nigeria
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- Nigeria’s 1975–1976 military government and African diplomacy
Why this life matters
His short tenure joins domestic institutional reform with an unusually prominent argument about African sovereignty.
Timeline
Key moments
Military government
Succeeds Yakubu Gowon as head of state.
OAU address
Speaks on Angola at an extraordinary session in Addis Ababa.
Assassination
Is killed during an unsuccessful coup attempt.
From Kano into the army
Mohammed was born in Kano and joined the Nigerian Army after school. His training in Britain included work at Sandhurst and in military signals. Those appointments formed part of a military career before he entered national leadership. The Central Bank’s biographical entry connects that training to his later service and gives a record for identifying the person commemorated on the twenty-naira note.
Sources for this section: [1]
A short government with a longer timetable
Mohammed became head of state after the July 1975 military coup that ended Gowon’s government. His administration undertook civil service changes and set out a programme for more states, a new constitution and elections. Its timetable pointed toward civilian rule in October 1979. An announced programme extended beyond the life of the government that proposed it, so later measures should be dated to the administration that actually carried them out.
An argument about Angola
At the extraordinary OAU session in Addis Ababa in January 1976, Mohammed presented the conflict in Angola as a question of African sovereignty and foreign intervention. He condemned the role of apartheid South Africa and defended the position Nigeria had taken. An American intelligence assessment prepared before the meeting discussed the significance of South African involvement from a different standpoint. These records make the diplomatic argument visible without settling every claim made in it.
Assassination and succession
Mohammed was killed in an attempted coup in February 1976. Olusegun Obasanjo succeeded him and remained in office until 1979. The transfer meant that policy proposals associated with Mohammed and the completion of the later transition belong to separate stages, even though the governments shared parts of a programme.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Murtala Mohammed
- Did Mohammed personally hand over to a civilian president in 1979?
- He was killed in 1976. Obasanjo headed the military government at the time of the 1979 transfer.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- Yakubu Gowon
Read the military administration that preceded Mohammed’s.
- Olusegun Obasanjo
Follow the successor who served until the 1979 civilian transfer.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. Central Bank of NigeriaGeneral Murtala Mohammed
- 2. State House, AbujaPast Heads of State and Presidents
- 3. Murtala Mohammed, speech transcriptionAfrica Has Come of Age, 11 January 1976
- 4. Foreign Relations of the United States, Office of the HistorianIntelligence memorandum on Angola and the approaching OAU meeting