Babangida is a retired Nigerian Army general and politician. He served as military president of Nigeria from 1985 until his resignation in 1993.Colonel Babangida crushed almost single-handedly the coup d’état of 1976 that resulted in the assassination of General Murtala Mohammed by taking back control of the Radio Nigeria station from the main perpetrator, Lieutenant Colonel Buka Suka Dimka.Speaking in a national broadcast after the assassination of Muhammed, Dimka said that the widespread orgy of “corruption, indecision, arrest and detention without trial, weakness on the part of Mohammed and maladministration in general” were reasons why he overthrew Murtala’s government.Ibrahim Babangida who is reputed to have taken part in every coup that preceded his ascension to power had first gained recognition among his colleagues and superiors as the man who played the major part in foiling the bloody coup of February 13, 1976, that ended the regime of Murtala Muhammed.The coup has failed,” he reportedly told Dimka. “You have to surrender.” Miffed by Babangida’s audacity, Dimka was said to have threatened to shoot him. Babangida allegedly told Dimka that he was all right with being killed by his best friend. Dimka in turn melted and asked for amnesty from the new government wherein Babangida would play a key role.The coup was quashed. But Murtala was waylaid, shot and killed on his way to work. He distanced himself from the rather imperial grandeur of the Gowon administration. It was important to his administration to cultivate a new image of power – a good public relations gimmick that went tragically awry on February 13, 1976.Lieutenant Colonel Dimka was publicly executed on 15 May 1976 at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison in Lagos.