Murtala Mohammed: Africa has come of age

Murtala Mohammed: Africa has come of age @Extraordinary meeting of O.A.U - 1976


11 January 1976, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

This speech was a response to a letter from President Gerald Ford opposing the Soviet backed M.P.L.A. which had assumed power in Angola.

The South Africans were fighting with the opposition factions to M.P.LA.

General Murtala objected to Ford siding with the South Africans, and against African self determination.

Concluding part of speech:

Mr. Chairman, when I contemplate
 evils of apartheid, my heart bleeds and I am sure the heart of every true blooded African bleeds. . .

 Rather than join hands with the forces fighting for self-determination and against racism and apartheid, the United States policy makers clearly decided that it was in the best interests of their country to maintain white supremacy and minority regimes in Africa

Africa has come of age

It’s no longer under the orbit of any extra continental power.

It should no longer take orders from any country, however powerful.

 The fortunes of Africa are in our hands to make or to mar.

For too long have we been kicked around, for too long have we been treated like adolescents who cannot discern their interests and act accordingly.

For too long has it been presumed that the African needs outside ‘experts’ to tell him who are his friends and who are his enemies.

The time has come when we should make it clear that we can decide for ourselves, that we know our own interests and how to protect those interests; that we are capable of resolving African problems without presumptuous lessons in ideological dangers which, more often than not, have no relevance for us, nor for the problem at hand.

Murtala Ramat Mohammed was killed 34 days after making this speech, OBJ became Supreme Military Head of State after his death.

General Muritala Mohammed, our late head of state, suddenly agreed to travel to Adisa Ababa in Jan, 1976 to deliver at the OAU conference, the  great Speech  Africa has come of age, written by speech writer, Amb Oluyemi Adeniji, when Murtala and Obasanjo felt the previous drafts written by other scholars was not good enough for the mood of Africa.

Amb Adeniji born in 1934, and obtained his BA hons degree in history in 1956 from the university of Ibadan; he joined the foreign service in 1960 and was in the foreign ministry in Jan 1976, when OBJ invited him to draft this speech; when General Murtala read it, he opted to go deliver it, since he liked the speech, instead of OBJ, his deputy who was billed to have gone, says Adeniji.

 Amb Adeniji died in  Nov, 2017, after a meritorious service to his country, including his stints as foreign affairs minister between, 2003-2006;and internal affairs minister, 2006-7 under OBJ.