THE acting president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo on Monday, paid tributes to the legacies of former head of state, late General Murtala Muhammed during the 2017 Murtala Muhammed Memorial Lecture held in Abuja.
The event was organized by the Murtala Muhammed Foundation (MMF), a non-governmental organisation founded on the ideals of the Late General Murtala Muhammed and committed to improving the lives of Nigerians and Africans, especially those challenged by the menace of natural disasters and insecurity.
Delivering his address, Acting President Osinbajo said “what we need is a new Nigeria where men and women are prepared to put the national enterprise first. As has been re-echoed by the earlier speakers, this is what Murtala Muhammed lived for”.
Also, former President Olusegun Obasanjo who was instrumental to the setting up the foundation said, “When the idea of keeping Murtala Muhammed legacies were conceived we did not know how it will grow but it has grown under the good leadership of Mrs Aisha Oyebode.”
Obasanjo succeeded late Gen. Muhammed in office as Military Head of State. He serves as the chairman of the board of trustees of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation.
While delivering the keynote address themed “Managing the Boko Haram Crisis in Borno State: Experiences and lessons for a multi-party, multi-ethnic and multi-religious Nigeria”, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state lamented the recurrent plague in the North Eastern region of Nigeria where insecurity was wrought on innocent citizens, many of which are either refugees or internally displaced in their own country.
The Governor said, “we must unite as Nigerians to suppress our bias by working hard to get facts on all issues, otherwise, we will continue to fall victims of conspiracy theories”.
He further implored Nigerians not to allow themselves be used for various sectional interests, adding “We must recognize that for every conspiracy theory, there is a group that stands to gain politically. Nigerians, we should free our minds and ask ourselves; ‘who stands to gain? ‘Let us all be vigilant and join hands to support our national government to protect lives and property.”
Shettima further added that ,“Gen. Murtala is a great leader mostly remembered for his famous address titled ‘Africa has come of age’ at the Extra-Ordinary Summit of African Heads of States under the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), held in Addis Ababa, the political capital of Africa, on 11th January, 1976. The speech aptly set Africa’s independence agenda for Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Rhodesia (renamed Zimbabwe) and South Africa.”
In her address, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation, Aisha Oyebode said “for those that knew my father intimately while he was alive, you would agree that beyond the mien of the no nonsense military general, he was generous and kind hearted.
“He was more at home in the company of the masses, and understood the pain and suffering of the downtrodden, and used all the power and resources he had to fight for the weak and oppressed within and outside Nigeria. General Murtala Muhammed truly had empathy, which is why 41 years on, his sacrifice and legacy as a man of the people, is still very worthy of commemoration.”
“We at the MMF believe that our theme for this year – Humanitarian Crisis and Response in a Plural State: What Role for Leadership? – is a fitting tribute to General Muhammed’s legacy.
“More so, this is a very relevant subject requiring careful consideration. Undoubtedly, humanitarian crisis resulting from insurgency and conflict has been a foremost contemporary global challenge. Sadly, the Nigerian situation is not very different, as the Boko Haram insurgency has been a principal cause of the unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the country, mainly in the northeast”.
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