Nigeria, 1976 — military coup attempt

Event Summary

On 13 February 1976 a faction of Nigerian armed forces officers led by Lieutenant Colonel Bukar Suka Dimka attempted a coup against the military government of General Murtala Mohammed, who had himself taken power just seven months earlier in the July 1975 coup that removed Yakubu Gowon. As Mohammed's black Mercedes travelled slowly through the notorious Lagos traffic near the Federal Secretariat at Ikoyi, a group of soldiers ambushed the car and assassinated the head of state along with his aide de camp and his driver, in an attack that lasted barely a minute. Dimka went on Radio Nigeria to announce the takeover in a rambling broadcast, but the coup was disorganized and drew no wider support.

Within hours it was crushed by loyalist forces coordinated by senior officers including Mohammed's deputy Olusegun Obasanjo and army chief Theophilus Danjuma. Dimka fled and was captured after a three week manhunt on 6 March, and he and six co-conspirators were executed by firing squad on 15 May 1976. Obasanjo succeeded Mohammed as head of state and later led Nigeria's transition back to civilian rule.