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General News of Thursday, 25 May 2023

Source: www.mynigeria.com

The face on the N20 note and how it came about

Late General Murtala Mohammed Late General Murtala Mohammed

Many Nigerians only see his likeness in the N20 Naira note but nobody cares to know how the decision to put his image on the money came about and who he really was?

Well, General Murtala Ramat Mohammed was a Nigerian army officer who rose to the rank of a four star general and was fourth head of state of Nigeria and the third military head of state in succession after Major General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi Ironsi and General Yakubu Gowon.

His duration as military head of state is the shortest in the history of Nigeria but almost the most loaded.

He was military Head of State between July 29, 2975 and February 13, 1976 when he was brutally assassinated as he was being chauffered to office in his black limousine state Mercedes Benz car.

Originally from Auchi town in Edo State, General Mohammed was born on November 8, 1938 and raised in Kano, he therefore chose the ancient city as his state of origin.

Known for his tempestuous outbursts, "Muri" as General Olusegun Obasanjo, former military Head of State and two term president of Nigeria worked quite well with the latter.

General Murtala overthrew General Yakubu Gowon in a bloodless coup d'etat on July 29, 1975 when the latter was in Uganda for an African Union summit and became Head of State.

He was killed in his black Mercedes Benz saloon car on February 13, 1976 along with his ADC, Lieutenant Akintunde Akinsehinwa, in a failed coup led by Lieutenant Colonel Buka Suka Dimka in an ambush on his way to his office.

General Murtala was the brain behind Abuja being the Federal Capital in favour of an overpopulated Lagos.

He put in place the plan and set up a panel headed by Justice Akinola Aguda.

Murtala also created seven states in 1976 thereby increasing the number of states in Nigeria from 12 to 19.



These new states were: Bauchi, Imo, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Borno and Benue States.

These new states endured from 1976 to 1987 when another military Head of State; General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida increased it to 21 and subsequently to 30 in 1991.

Due to his popularity, when he was assassinated, the whole nation was in uproar calling for the heads of the coupists.

As a means of remembering the Kate General, the airport in Lagos was renamed; Murtala Mohammed International Airport, his image was put on the newly created N20 note which was the highest Naira denomination till 1991 and the Mercedes Benz car in which he was assassinated was preserved at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos.




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