What I can say is that I am always humbled by his
legacy. I also feel humbled when I see the kind of
response that people have towards him 40 years after.
So I really feel it is something that makes me very proud.
At times I realise that he really was visionary because so
many things that he talked about 40 years ago are the
ones affecting us today.
Where were you on the day he was assassinated and how
did you get the news of his assassination in a military
coup 40 years ago?
I was a student at Queens College, Lagos. I was in Form
2. Actually I did not know for quite a while. As soon it
happened, the Head Mistress called me into her office
and said that I needed to go home. The lady that came to
pick me was the Principal of the school that I went to
earlier. She is Mrs. Nasiru a Lebanese, who was the
principal of Lebanese Community School, Yaba. So, she
took us to her home on the outskirts of Lagos.
I did not know what was going on that Friday. The only
thing I knew was that martial music was playing on the
radio but I had no idea of what happened. The following
day, they took us to my uncle’s house in Yaba. He is my
father’s very good friend. When we got there every one
started crying and I asked what was going on they said
my aunty was not feeling fine and I smiled.
Whatever they told me, I believed it. It was when we got
to Kano the following day which was on Sunday morning
that my father’s mother told us that my father had been
killed. That was after he had been buried. All this while
my mother was away, maybe if she was around we
would have known earlier.
Obviously there are some peculiarities that come with
being the daughter of the late Head of State Gen Murtala
Mohammed, retd. Can we know these peculiarities?
I think that very big shoes, filling them can be very
challenging. People’s expectations of you are very high
which not bad because what it does is that it makes you
determined as well. It makes one understand that his
legacy is an important thing that has to be sustained. It is
not easy. Sometimes living in the public glare for so long
is not easy and people don’t realise that. And again I am
not complaining, I am just stating the fact that when you
live in the public glare, you have to work really hard.
Sometimes it is difficult to maintain privacy by staying on
your own lane and live a quiet life.
But the positive side of it especially when it comes to the
work of the foundation is that it opens doors. It is like
having a brand. If our foundation, Ford Foundation and
Macarthur goes to any place in Nigeria, they will open the
door first for me just because of our reputation. And I
find that even in the remotest part of Nigeria where
people are not receptive. I am usually the one they put in
the front. It is not that it opens doors without hard work;
it just makes things a lot easier. And it is a recognised
brand if you want to use business terms. You do not
have to work as hard as others to grow the reputation.
People just acknowledge and recognise it.
What was the experience like growing up without your
father?
I can say that living without him was very difficult. We
live in a patriarchal society which means that it is really
the man in the front that defines the family. After my
father died life was really tough. There were six of us my,
mother had to bring all of us up but it was very difficult
for us financially. My mother was very enterprising and
hard working but things were very difficult especially
towards the later years when my younger siblings were in
secondary school and the university. It was actually very
tough.
What were your thoughts about Nigeria at that time?
I think I was so busy trying to get over my grief. And I
was particularly close to my father because I was the
eldest child. At that time the Federal Government gave us
scholarship but it was not easy. Things are even much
more efficient now because in those days every holiday
we couldn’t go on vacation like some children. From the
time I come home, we will be putting papers for our
scholarship together so that we can take them to the
Cabinet Office, the papers will now move from desk to
desk and we were doing it so that we will not be late for
school. And I did it for myself and my younger siblings.
So you can imagine what we went through. So honestly I
didn’t have time to feel any bitterness or anger.
For me it was just important to make sure that we all
went to school. In my older years, when I look back I
realise that it did not just have to be that difficult because
other families of other Heads of States also have to go
through what we went through trying to get through the
Cabinet Office, and I know that some of them after a
while had to give up at some point. But my mum was just
determined. Yes, it was tough and I am sure if you ask
any of my siblings they will tell you how tough it was. It is
not that on the other side of it that we are now
accomplished and then everybody thinks life was a bed
of roses for us. No, it was not.
Being the eldest child and having been close to him, what
kind of impression do you have of him?
My father was very passionate about everything and he
was very passionate about Nigeria. Sometimes when
people ask me why I am passionate about Nigeria, I tell
them that it is probably because he used to talk a lot
about Nigeria when he was young. When we were young,
when we wanted to go to Kano, we will drive to Kaduna
and sleep there before proceeding to Kano. It is usually
with my younger brother and I and may be with a friend
of my dad. And then they used to discuss Nigeria in their
discussion all the way to Kano. And I think that is where
my feelings and understanding of the country came from.
He was passionate about development.
He was the one, who said to my mother that should
anything happen to him, the only legacy she can give to
his children is education especially the girls. So he really
understood how important it was for the children to be
well educated. My father was the one who was a
horticulturalist before my mother. My father would plant
the foreign apple that does not grow here locally. And of
course the tree will grow but it will not bear fruits
because we don’t have the climate for it. He used to have
collection of birds. And then he was also technologically
savvy.
All the latest technological gadgets of his time, he had
them because he was in the signals. And he was a very
handsome man. So I recall doing a lot of things with him.
In fact we used to go swimming at the Federal Palace
Hotel every Sunday. In fact I used to tell everybody that
the first hamburger I ate was at the Federal Palace Hotel
and no hamburger has ever tested like that! And some
weekends we used to go shopping.
Having been that close to him, were there any particular
thing that he often told you?
He emphasised so much on education, not just western
education alone but also Quranic education. I think
selflessness was something he always emphasised on.
He often said that whatever one does, the person should
not think about himself alone but also others. That was a
very important lesson. And in fact if anybody ever got into
trouble with my dad, he will raise his voice. He never
raised his hands against any of us except for once that he
hit my brother. He taught us selflessness; you just don’t
do things and think about yourself alone. And that was a
very important lesson.
Your dad was known to have pioneered the clamour for
accountability in public service, how successful has the
Murtala Mohammed foundation gone in promoting public
probity?
It is part of the work that we do in terms of public policy
and advocacy because accountability is about probity.
How do we make the leaders accountable to the people?
These are some of the things we do. That is why in our
annual lectures we talk about issues of governance and
how we can improve the lives of people. So these are
some of the things that come from probity and
accountability and also in everything we do at the
foundation, we try to ensure that we are accountable.
The office of the Head of State is such that demands so
much time, did you really miss him much when he
became the Head of State and did he actually have time
for his family at that time?
I don’t remember what I did. I tell people that I actually
didn’t remember what happened during that time because
of the traumatic experience of his death. I remember the
day he became Head of State, I remember the day I was
told he died. In between that time, I can’t remember
much. All I can remember are feelings and those feelings
chill much. I still remember that I was happy as a child
because he was so protective. But it is like my mind shut
down as a result of that tragic incident. May be
sometimes, I may remember some episodes. He was
very close to his children. There are some pictures that
will be taken to the National Archives and in all he was
with his children. As a person he was very gentle and well
loved. My father had a lot of friends even now when they
talk about him; it comes from his gentle side. He does not
like to come home and his dinner will be late. He liked a
lot of our native soups like Efo, Okro and he liked Tuwo
How has the relationship between your father’s
immediate family and the children been?
Within 10 years that my father died, most of his brothers
died. That was quite devastating as well. My father’s
sisters actually stood in but they were women, so they did
not really have the impact that my father’s brothers
would have had. And then we had a close relationship
with Alhaji Inua Wada, my father’s uncle, who recently
passed on. In terms of saying if anybody actually stood in
to replace him, there was nobody like that, maybe
because after my father died, my father’s relations
wanted to keep us in Kano and my mother said no. I
think that caused some issues for many years but it did
not stop us from interacting with them, it is just that they
did not step in the way one would have expected them.
Did the absence of your father affect the Hausa part of
your heritage since your mother is Yoruba and you grew
up with her in Lagos without your dad?
I have a lot of my Kano heritage. I still go to Kano, I still
relate with all my relations. Even last week I met with my
father’s aunties in Abuja. I am still very much rooted in
that culture but you know I am also unique. I tell people
that I am a Nigerian because I crossed the divide. And I
think what makes me who I am, is my Yoruba side and
my Hausa side. And that is what I am. I am not one or
the other. I speak Hausa and Yoruba fluently and relate
very well with both sides of my heritage.
On special treatment
I don’t think I got any special treatment. I had a good
relationship with everyone. Perhaps the only time that
anything different or unusual happened was when he was
killed because I was taken out of school. And when I
came back, the Principal, Mrs. Coker, held a memorial
service with the students for my dad. After that nothing
else, I was like every other person.
On Murtala Mohammed foundation
We started the foundation actually because of the Daily
Times lectures. When Daily Times started having
problems, the idea of having a foundation was muted.
Actually when they were having the initial discussion, I
was not part of it. They went to Obsanjo and told him that
it was a good idea to have a foundation. And of course
they spoke to my mother. And Baba (Obasanjo) was the
one, who said I should be made the executive secretary. I
try to keep his memories very positive. I just think that
we are lucky because I have so many good things to
remember. When I look at his books I remember so many
things about him. And we actually cared about his books
because he had specially books.
Without prejudice to the national monuments named
after Murtala Mohammed, do you think he has had a fair
share of immortalisation?
Two weeks ago the National Museum because of the
exhibition they want to do, asked us to get them the list of
all the landmarks named after him and honestly to say
that enough has not been done, we will be doing a
disservice to Nigeria. Every city you go, landmarks are
named after Murtala Mohammed. There are a lot of
educational establishments named after him. There are
so many of them. I think the most important thing is to
maintain these monuments. And it will be nice to have a
body that will be able to keep those monuments in a
fitting state.
All over the country there are Murtala Mohammed parks.
The other day, Enugu State government called us to know
what we want to do with the Murtala Mohammed Park.
And it is a huge expanse of land. I think we have done
quite a lot. If there is anything that we have not done
enough, it is the fact that we are not documenting our
history very well because if we don’t document history,
people will write it and that is the mistake that we are
making. We need to start documenting history.
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