On Friday, November 2, 2012, Nigerian civil war hero, General Mohammed Shuwa was assassinated by gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram. A Nigerian military spokesman states that General Shuwa was assassinated by four gunmen who pretended to visit the general during Friday\u2019s Juma prayers. In May this year General Shuwa had expressed concern about his security in Maiduguri to the French News Agency. On several occasions, he was advised to leave his Gwange neighborhood-a ground zero of Boko Haram activity-but he refused. A day earlier, it was reported that Nigerian security forces executed over 40 civilians in Maiduguri. It is not known if the assassination of General Shuwa was in retaliation for the actions of the Joint Task Force (JTF).\u00a0 However, General Shuwa was known to have met several times with National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki in an attempt to open a dialogue with the terrorist outfit. General shuwa becomes the most high profile personality to be assassinated by Boko Haram.<\/p>\n
The Boko Haram (western education is bad) terrorist group has been waging a low intensity insurgency against the Nigerian state for over three years. It’s specialty is blowing up Christian churches and attacking defenseless civilians.<\/p>\n
A Shuwa Arab from Borno state, General Shuwa is one of Nigeria’s most decorated military officers. In Northern Nigeria, his name is pronounced with awe , and several myths have grown about him. During the regime of Tafawa Balewa, he was the Military Secretary of the Nigerian Army. After the January 15, 1966 coup, he succeeded Lt Col Odumegwu Ojukwu as commander of the 5th battalion in Kano. In cooperation with Emir Ado Bayero, General Shuwa was credited with protecting the lives Igbo soldiers under his command in Kano during the July 29, 1966 coup. At the inception of the civil war in July 1967, General Shuwa became the first commander of the first division of the Nigerian army. It was his division that attacked Biafra from Vandakiya in Benue state and overran Nsukka, Enugu, Gakem, Ogoja, Abakaliki, Obollo Eke, Nkalagu. Okigwi and Obollo Afor. It was also men from his battalion that was responsible for the death of the legendary Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu. Unlike other officers, General Shuwa believed that Major Nzeogwu was a \u201cpatriotic, but misguided officer\u201d.\u00a0 Major Sule Apollo (who commanded the first assault on Biafra), General Shehu Yar Adua, General Ibrahim Babangida and General T.Y. Danjuma are some of the important officers who fought under his command. He was replaced as commander of the first division by General I.D. Bissala.<\/p>\n
After the civil war, he served as a top military adviser to General Gowon, and as commissioner under Generals\u00a0 Murtala and Obasanjo. He retired from the army after Shehu Shagari became president in 1979. Nigeria has lost a great statesman\u00a0 who will be sorely missed.<\/p>\n
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On Friday, November 2, 2012, Nigerian civil war hero, General Mohammed Shuwa was assassinated by gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram. A Nigerian military spokesman states that General Shuwa was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n