Abdullahi Mohammed

Major General Abdullahi Mohammed was Governor of Benue-Plateau State, Nigeria from July 1975 to February 1976 during the military regime of General Murtala Mohammed. Later he was Chief of Staff for ten years, holding office from May 1999 until June 2008.

Mohammed was born in Ilorin. Mohammed was Director of Military Intelligence in July 1975, and formed and executed the plan with other colonels including Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, Joseph Nanven Garba, Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Taiwo to depose General Yakubu Gowon, after which they transferred power to General Murtala Muhammed as head of state. Immediately after the coup, he was appointed Governor of Benue Plateau State.

After Olusegun Obasanjo had taken over control, he recalled Mohammed in March 1976 and appointed him to the Supreme Military Council as Director General of the Nigeria Security Organisation with the additional responsibility for police security. Later he was made director of military intelligence. After General Olusegun Obasanjo handed over to elected civilians at the start of the Nigerian Second Republic in 1979, Muhammed retired from the army. He went into private business, becoming managing director of Atoto Press in Ilorin.

In 1998 General Abdusalami Abubakar, who took over as head of state after the unexpected death of General Sani Abacha, appointed Muhammed as national security adviser. His successor, President Olusegun Obasanjo made Muhammed his chief of staff, and President Umaru Yar'Adua re-appointed Muhammed as Chief of Staff when he assumed office on May 29, 2007. Mohammed resigned as of 2 June 2008.