A former Chief of Staff to ex-Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Umaru Yar’Adua, Major General Abdullahi Mohammed (retd.), has died at 86.
Mohammed reportedly passed away around 1am on Wednesday in Abuja.
His family have described his death as a huge loss to the Ilorin Emirate, the nation, and the military community.
Born in 1939, the late General Mohammed attended the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, United Kingdom, and was commissioned into the Nigerian Army in 1958.
He rose through the ranks to become the Director of Military Intelligence and played a key role in the 1975 coup that toppled General Yakubu Gowon and brought General Murtala Mohammed to power.
Following the change of government, Mohammed was appointed Governor of Benue-Plateau State, serving from July 1975 to March 1976.
Under General Olusegun Obasanjo’s military administration, he became the Director-General of the National Security Organisation (NSO)—the precursor to today’s Department of State Services (DSS)—a position he held until 1979.
