When Murtala Muhammed became President of Nigeria on July 29, 1975, he mandated that the official vehicle of the president should be a Mercedes Benz and more significantly, that the vehicle should not be a bulletproof car. Murtala wanted to show Nigerians that Gowon – the man he had just toppled from power was profligate as he (Gowon) used
‘expensive’ armoured cars while in power.
That action turned out to be a mistake as Murtala became a sitting duck – on his 198th day in office- when mutineer soldiers ambushed his (Presidential) car in a traffic hold-up on Friday February 13, 1976. The fact is, the high caliber bullets from the assailants easily penetrated Murtala’s vehicle. The thing is, if the vehicle were bullet-proof, Murtala would probably have survived the onslaught.
This is because Sergeant Adamu Michika, the driver of the vehicle, was conscious of the attackers in his peripheral vision and had manoeuvred the car expertly to make a getaway. In fact, Sergeant Michika was trying to get away when one of the belligerent soldiers shot him in the front of his head through the front windscreen of the car, killing him.
Instantly, Sergeant Michika dropped dead with his bloodied head on the box containing [President] Murtala’s civilian clothes placed on the center console between the driver and passenger seat.
Almost synchronously, Murtala’s army orderly Sergeant Michael Otuwe, who was seated on the passenger seat, ducked and rested his head on the dead man’s body.
Otuwe had been hit in the arms and was bleeding profusely.
Meanwhile [President] Murtala Mohammed had also been fatally shot but the haze of bullets from the assassins had not yet hit his Aide-De-Camp (ADC) Lieutenant Akintunde Akinsehinwa who was seated beside him at the back. Then Akinsehinwa dropped out of the vehicle and was returning fire with his pistol while trying to take cover. Within a short while, Lieutenant-Colonel Bukar Suka Dimka, the assassin-in-chief and coupist, and his fellow coupists finished off Akinsehinwa several feet away from the car.
PS: Otuwe survived the attack targeted at Murtala.
Otuwe stated that Murtala did not die instantly and that Akinsehinwa opened his own side of the door at the back seat and went to the other door to help Murtala.
Eyewitnesses’ account that Akinsehinwa tried to take cover (while returning fire) and was then killed.
Some Nigerians make mockery of Akinsehinwa that he was running away rather than trying to save his boss (Murtala). True, Akinsehinwa was trying to get away (as evidence shows that he was shot on the back six times). However, any well-trained soldier (or even any human being), when under heavy gunfire, would first try to reach for cover. That behavior is instinctive and part of human sense of self-preservation.
Sergeant Otuwe worked for the Murtala Muhammed family when he left the army.
Specifically, he continued to work for the family until Abba Risqua Muhammed, Murtala’ son who was about 12 at the time of the 1976 assassination, clocked 52.
