Aisha Muhammed, the daughter of former Head of State, late General Murtala Muhammed, has said her father’s simple lifestyle and leadership approach contributed to the ease with which he was assassinated.

Muhammed, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation, said this while speaking on ARISE News’ Morning Show yesterday.

Reflecting on her father’s leadership style on the 50th anniversary of his assassination, she said the late military leader embodied the values he preached, particularly accountability, responsibility and discipline.

She said her father believed corruption was a “cankerworm” capable of destroying society and did not merely speak against it but lived out his anti-corruption stance through his personal conduct and leadership style.

“I think his (late Muhammed’s) leadership style was clear. He led with clarity. He believed in accountability.

He believed in responsibility, and then we are all very familiar with his anti-corruption stance, and corruption was not something you just talked about.

“He literally felt that it was a cankerworm that was going to destroy our society, and 50 years later, look at what has happened.

“But I also think that he felt that you had to embody the leadership in the way you presented yourself.”

According to her, Murtala Muhammed deliberately avoided the trappings of power, including heavy security details, motorcades and sirens, insisting on living like the ordinary Nigerian. This lifestyle, she said, directly contributed to his assassination on February 13, 1976.

Aisha noted that the late head of state was travelling in traffic like every other road user when the attack occurred.