Major General Abdullahi Mohammed (retd.), a former Chief of Staff to ex-Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, has passed away at the age of 86.
According to family sources, the respected retired officer, who hailed from Ilorin, Kwara State, died around 1 a.m. on Wednesday in Abuja. His death has been described as a great loss to the Ilorin Emirate, the nation, and the military community.
Born in 1939, Mohammed attended the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in the United Kingdom and was commissioned into the Nigerian Army in 1958. He rose through the ranks to become Director of Military Intelligence and played a significant role in the 1975 coup that ousted General Yakubu Gowon and brought General Murtala Mohammed to power.
After the coup, he was appointed Governor of Benue-Plateau State, serving from July 1975 to March 1976. Under Obasanjo’s military regime, Mohammed became Director-General of the National Security Organisation (NSO) the precursor to today’s Department of State Services (DSS) where he served until 1979.
Upon his retirement, he went into private business, becoming the Managing Director of Atoto Press Limited, a well-known printing company based in Ilorin.
In 1998, he was recalled to public service as National Security Adviser to then Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, a position he held until Nigeria’s transition to democratic rule in 1999.
At the start of the Fourth Republic, Mohammed was appointed Chief of Staff to President Olusegun Obasanjo and retained the position under President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua until his resignation in June 2008.
Renowned for his discipline, influence, and administrative acumen, Mohammed was regarded as a quiet but powerful figure in Nigeria’s political and security landscape.
In a condolence message, the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU) described his death as a monumental loss to both Ilorin and Nigeria. The statement, issued by the union’s National Publicity Secretary, Nurudeen Ibrahim, on behalf of National President Alhaji Abdulmumini Abdullahi, noted that the late General was a trailblazer — the first son of Ilorin to serve as a state governor and the first to become a two-star General in the Nigerian military.
The union commended Mohammed’s patriotism and support for national unity, recalling his long-standing contributions to the IEDPU, including sponsoring the printing of its annual calendar free of charge.
The IEDPU extended condolences to President Bola Tinubu, former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Abdulsalami Abubakar, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, and the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji (Dr) Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari.
Abdullahi prayed that Allah forgive the deceased’s shortcomings, grant him Aljanat Firdaus, and give his family the strength to bear the loss.
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