By Abdulkareem Macualey

The February 13, 1976 coup d’etat attempt was a military attempt, which took place in Nigeria, when a faction of the Armed Forces Officers, led by Lt.-Col Bukar Sukar Dimka, attempted to overthrow the government of General Murtala Muhammed (who overthrew General Yakubu Gowon in a coup d’etat in 1975).

General Murtala’s car was ambushed in Obalende, Ikoyi, en-route his Dodan Barracks office by a group of soldiers led by Dimka and he, General Murtala was assassinated alongside his aide-de-camp.

Lt. Akintunde Akinsehinwa

In a planned broadcast later to the nation, Dimka had alleged corruption, indecision, arrest and detention without trial, weakness and mal-administration as reasons for overthrowing the Murtala Muhammed government.

The coup attempt was crushed several hours later by government troops.

A manhunt was laid and after three weeks, Dimka was arrested near Abakaliki in South-Eastern Nigeria, on March 6, 1976. Following a court martial judgment, Dimka and 37 Military officers and civilians, who were co-conspirators, were killed by firing squad on May 15, 1976.

General Yakubu Gowon, former Head of State, who then was in England, was implicated in the coup attempt, but was later pardoned by a former civilian President, the late Alhaji Shehu Shagari.