Today marks 40 years since the assassination of former head of state, General Murtala Mohammed in a failed 1976 coup de’tat. In this interview, the late General’s orderly, Master Warrant Officer Michael Otuwe (rtd), 69, in tears, narrates how the late charismatic leader almost escaped the coupists, and much more.
Daily Trust: Why did you join the army?
Master Warrant Officer Michael Otuwe (rtd): I am an Igala man form Olamoboro local government of Kogi State. I attended Ankpa Primary School and Ankpa Model Secondary School before I joined the profession I cherished most, the army. I joined the army on September 11, 1967, at Ikeja Military Cantonment in Lagos and that is where we underwent the mandatory six months training on the eve of the Nigerian Civil War. After the training I was posted to the Nigerian Army Signal Corps and incidentally, Muratla Ramat Mohammed was a Colonel then and the Inspector of Signals.
DT: How did he make you his orderly, did you lobby or somebody introduced you to him?
Otuwe: He told me that he noticed how immaculate I was in my army dress when we do master parade. He picked me to be his orderly when I was a Lance Corporal. I was young and I just have to be clean. I was with Murtala in all his posting and during the civil war as he was made the first General Officer Commanding Two Division of the Nigerian Army and beyond.
DT: How many years did you work with the late national hero as his orderly?
Otuwe: I worked with him till he was killed and that was 11 years and within the period he had only three children – Aisha, Zakari and Fatima.
DT: What is the secret behind your success in the civil war?
Otuwe: He was an organiser of men and their welfare. He was smart and hardworking and thought of Nigeria first before anything. He was always consulting his close ally, the chief Imam of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier Ndayawo who was also at the battle front.
DT: What were some of the exploits of your master that the public do not know?
Otuwe: He was gifted. I remember one occasion when Biafran soldiers encircled us, he did a wonderful tactical manoeuvre and retreated that baffled even we that were with him. When many wanted to surrender, he made a quest to fight and to win for Nigeria to continue as a united country. If you broke the law, he dealt with you accordingly. He had a good retentive memory and did not forget anything.
DT: Is it true that most of his colleagues were envious of him because of his exploits during the civil war?
Otuwe: I cannot really tell, even though it was something that was not in the open.
DT: How did you survive the many ambushes against the life of the General?
Otuwe: We encountered many ambushes and attacks but one of the most memorable one was when we were encircled at Ukpo Junction in Abbagana where Murtala did a tactical manoeuvre and withdrew and prepared for a defensive attack that led to the capture of many towns and cities. But all the Nigerian soldiers that captured Onitsha fell into a trap as they were encircled and fell to the fire-power of Biafran troops. We went to Asaba in speed boats and down to the northern region in Idah in present day Kogi State to prepare for attacks that eventually lead to the capture of more cities. In 1968 there was a reshuffle that took General Murtala back to Lagos as Minister of Communications an Inspector of Signals. That mean he was doing two jobs at the same time.
DT: How did you brief your wife about your schedule of duty?
Otuwe: (Laughter) She was married to a soldier and she had become part of the system as when she saw us at home, it meant we were off duty.
DT: How did your children react about the absence of their father?
Otuwe: Most of my children almost forgot me as I left home at dawn and came back late in the night. They saw me only on weekends even though I used to go to the house of the head of state even during weekends and even before he became the head of state.
DT: Is it true that Murtala once travelled from Lagos to Kano by road when he was head of state?
Otuwe: He didn’t do that while I was with him.
DT: Is it true that he used to camouflage and go round Lagos without being acknowledged?
Otuwe: Yes! It is true as I and his ADC, Lieutenant Akintunde Akinterinwa, once followed him to survey prices, the rising cost of goods. He wore a track suit, a face cap and dark goggles and rode a horse to a filling station, disembarked, tied it and entered Sangross (Lagos Island), then Ajegunle and later Agege markets. The ADC pretended that we are not together and the ADC was writing the prices and I was pretending as a window shopper. A market woman told him to give other buyers chance as people were more disciplined then as everybody queued for his or her turn then. After two weeks goods and meat came in ships. People tagged the meat as ‘Murtala Meat.’
DT: What happened the day he was assassinated?
Otuwe: He was assassinated on July 29, 1976 (Starts shedding tears). He ruled for six months from July 29, 1975 to February 13, 1976. He was a very good man as he did not allow the goods (personal effects) of General Gowon to be thrown out but to be removed gently and for the house to be renovated before he relocated from Dodan Barracks. That was why he was shuttling from Ikoyi without pilot cars, motorbike outriders, armed military and security bodyguards among others. He only rode in the official Mercedes Benz car with two flags the national flag on the left and the armed forces flag on the right. On that fateful day, we passed through Federal Secretariat in Ikoyi which was undergoing renovation and covered with zinc. When we reached Alagbgon Junction the traffic man did not notice the flags, he would have allowed the traffic in our direction to continue moving, but he stopped the five or six cars in front of us then I saw some people in agbada (Babanriga) and when they lifted them up they brought out AK-47 rifles and fired at us. Already a masked man had got the driver, Sergeant Adamu Michika, in the head and he feel on the arm-rest where the suit case containing the General’s mufti was. I took cover and fell on the driver. The General and the ADC also took cover. When the assassins left and were heading to National Broadcasting Corporation – Radio House – to announce the takeover, one of the Majors turned and saw when the ADC opened the door to help the General, the Major shouted and notified his colleagues that they were alive. This made them to turn and rush back and emptied there bullets in us. I was the only survivor as I was shot in the arm and the hip.
The troops loyal to General Murtala came after the soldiers and they took us to the mortuary. I recovered from coma when the breeze from the air conditioner and the pain woke me up. A mortuary attendant notice that I raised my hand and he alerted a doctor who said I was alive and they took me to Dodan Barracks and then to a hospital on Awolowo Road Ikoyi.
DT: How long did you take to fully recover and go back to work?
Otuwe: I spent six months to recover and resumed work with the Nigerian Army Signal Corps. Where I worked with Generals Adenaju, Raji Rasaki and lastly Tanko Ayuba.
DT: Have you ever been honoured?
Otuwe: No, not at all.
DT: Where are you staying now?
Otuwe: I am now staying in a rented two bedroom house in Maraba in Nasarawa State. The street has no name not to talk of house number. But I am working in the office of Riskua Murtala Muhammed in Maitama.
DT: When did you retire from the army?
Otuwe: I retired on the December 31, 1999 as a Master Warrant Officer.
DT: Are any of your children in the armed forces?
Otuwe: Not yet as they are schooling in high institutions.
DT: Do you regrets serving in the army?
Otuwe: No, no, no, not at all.
