HE WAS THE ONLY SURV1VOR OF THE AMBUSH THAT K1`LLED GENERAL MURTALA MUHAMMED ON FEBRUARY 13, 1976.
HE WAS THE ONLY SURV1VOR OF THE AMBUSH THAT K1`LLED GENERAL MURTALA MUHAMMED ON FEBRUARY 13, 1976.
His name was Staff Sergeant Michael Otuwe, the personal orderly to Nigeria’s Head of State, General Murtala Ramat Muhammed.
Michael Otuwe was an Igala man from Olamaboro Local Government Area of present-day Kogi State, Nigeria.
He attended Ankpa Primary School and Ankpa Model Secondary School before joining the milit@ry.
Otuwe enlisted in the Nigerian Army on September 11, 1967, at Ikeja Milit@ry Cantonment in Lagos.
According to his own account, he underwent six months of milit@ry training there. This was during the period surrounding the Nigerian Civil W@r, which had begun in July 1967.
After completing his training, he was posted to the Nigerian Army Signal Corps, the branch responsible for milit@ry communications.
It was this posting that brought him into professional contact with a senior officer who would later become one of the most prominent figures in Nigeria’s history: Colonel Murtala Ramat Muhammed, who was then the Inspector of Signals.
HOW MURTALA MUHAMMED CHOSE HIM AS HIS ORDERLY
Otuwe did not become Murtala Muhammed’s orderly through politic@l connections or by lobbying for the position.
In his interview, he explained that Murtala noticed how neatly he dressed in his milit@ry uniform during the army’s master parade.
At the time, Otuwe was a Lance Corporal.
His attention to his appearance impressed the senior officer, who selected him to serve as his orderly.
That decision marked the beginning of a close working relationship that continued through Murtala’s milit@ry postings and the Nigerian Civil W@r.
Otuwe later served alongside him as his career progressed, eventually becoming his orderly when Murtala rose to the position of Head of State in July 1975.
FEBRUARY 13, 1976: THE DAY EVERYTHING CHANGED
On the morning of February 13, 1976, General Murtala was travelling to work in Lagos when his official Mercedes-Benz was @mbushed by soldiers involved in a failed co’up led by Lieutenant Colonel Bukar Suka Dimka.
The att@ck claimed the lives of General Murtala Muhammed, his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Akintunde Akinsehinwa, and his driver, Sergeant Adamu Michika.
But one man survived.
Michael Otuwe was inside the vehicle when the gu`nmen opened fire. He was seriously wound€d in the att@ck, but he lived to tell the story of that t€rr!ble morning.
According to his account, the att@ckers initially moved away after sh0’oting at the vehicle. However, when they noticed signs that some of the occupants might still be alive, they returned and f!red again.
Otuwe was the only survivor among the four men in the car.
Nigeria lost its Head of State that morning, and the failed co’up changed the course of the country’s political history. Lieutenant General Olusegun Obasanjo subsequently became Head of State.
For Michael Otuwe, however, February 13, 1976, was more than a turning point in Nigeria’s history. It was a day he narrowly escaped d€@th while serving the man he had been assigned to prot€ct.
More than four decades later, his eyewitness account remains an important part of the story of General Murtala Muhammed’s ass@ss!nation.
HISTORY QUESTION: Have you ever heard the story of Michael Otuwe, the man who survived the @mbush that k?!illed General Murtala Muhammed?
