The one time Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, who was
although a child at the time, witnessed the arrest of his father on the
night of January 15, 1966, when the first coup was witnessed in Nigeria.
He recounts the events of that night in an interview with Leadership.
Fani-Kayode said: "What I witnessed that night was traumatic
and devastating for me and my family and, of course, what the nation
witnessed that night was horrific. It was a night of blood, terror and
sadness. The events of that night set in motion a series of events which
changed our history. The consequences of the events of that night are
still with us till this day. So, it was not a good night; it was a sad
and terrible night; one of blood and slaughter.
"What I saw, what I witnessed was this; in the middle of the
night, my mother came into the room which I shared with my older
brother, Rotimi and my sister Toyin. I was six at the time. The lights
had been cut, so all we could see was lights from vehicles. At that
time, my father was deputy premier of the South West so; the official
residence had a very long drive. We saw two headlights and heard the
engines of two lorries drive up the drive-way. The occupants of the
lorries stormed our home and my father went out to meet them, after he
had called us and explained that he would explain their coming later. He
explained that he would rather go out to meet them than let them come
into the house.
"The minute he stepped out, they brutalised him. I witnessed
this. They tied him up and threw him into the lorry. Interestingly, the
first thing they said to him was 'where are your thugs now?' My father’s
response was 'I don’t have thugs, only gentlemen.' I think this made
them brutalise him even more. They threw him in the back of the lorry,
tied him up and, then stormed the house.
"When they got into the house, they ransacked every nook and
cranny, shooting into the ceiling and wardrobes. They were very brutal
and frightful and we were terrified. My mother was screaming from the
balcony because all she could do was focus on her husband, who was
downstairs.
“Don’t kill him, don’t kill him!!” she kept screaming at them. I
can still visualise this and hear her voice pleading, screaming and
crying. I didn’t know where my brother or sister was; the house was in
total chaos. A six-year-old, I was standing there in the middle of the
house, surrounded by uniformed men who were ransacking the house and
terrorising my family.
"Something extraordinary happened. All of a sudden, one of the soldiers came up to me, put his hand on my head and said:
'Don’t worry, we won’t kill your father, stop crying.'
"He said this thrice. After he said it the third time, I
stopped crying. I went rushing to my mum who was still on the balcony
and told her to stop crying because the soldier had promised that they
would not kill my father, that everything would be okay.
"I held on to the words of that soldier. That night, I never
cried again. They took him away and as the lorry drove away, my mother
kept on wailing and so was everyone in the house.
"From there, they went to the home of Chief S.L Akintola, who
was the premier. When they got there, unfortunately, my mother had
phoned Akintola to inform him of what was happening. Akintola had calmed
her, assuring that all will be well. When they got to Akintola’s house,
he already knew of their coming so instead of coming out, the minute
they got there, he called out some of his boys and they came firing with
their guns. A gun battle ensued and the plan was delayed. They thought
they could pick my father, pick Akintola and go kill them were they
deemed fit.
"Akintola wounded two of the soldiers who came and, when his
ammunition ran out from inside the house, he came out with a white
handkerchief and surrendered. The minute he stepped out, they just
slaughtered him, right in front of my father. After they killed him,
they moved on with my father to Lagos. When they got there, they went to
the Officer’s Mess at Dodan Barracks.
"Akintola was one of the greatest Yoruba leaders, great orator, a nice man and dear uncle, just like Ademulegun was to me.
"When they took my dad away, everyone thought he had been
killed. We decided to not spend that night in the house. The next
morning, the policemen came and took us to the house of my mother’s
first cousin, Justice Fatai Williams, who was a judge of the Western
Region at the time. He later became the Chief Judge of Nigeria. From
there, we were taken to the home of Adelekan Ademola, another High Court
judge at the time, who later became a judge of the Appeal Court.
"There was so much confusion in the country and no one knew
what was going on. We had heard lots of stories and did not know what to
make of what anymore. There was chaos. It took some time for things to
be figured out.
"Two days later, my father called and told us that he was okay
and, when we heard his voice, I kept telling my mother 'I told you, I
told you.' Justice Ademola was weeping, my mother was weeping, my
brother and sister were weeping and I was just rejoicing, because I knew
that he would not be killed.
"I never got to know who that soldier was (that promised me
that my father would not be killed), but I believe that God spoke
through him that night.
"These fellows who carried out this coup were not alone; they
got some backing from the political class who identified with them, but
that is a story for another day.
"The truth is, there has never been another night like that and
the results of that night have been very profound and not enough
Nigerians appreciate that. Some people in our country can never forgive
those who did that, understandably. Others who believe that those young
fellows did the right thing still say that those killings were heroic,
which is something I find unacceptable and appalling." he added.
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