Former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has recalled his experience when soldiers invaded his family residence to abduct his late father during the 1966 coup.
Chief Remilekun Adetokunboh Fani-Kayode, the former minister’s father, was the Deputy Premier of the Old Western Region and the traditional title holder of the Balogun of Ife.
Fani-Kayode, who said he was six-years-old during the invasion, described how the mutineers stormed their home and almost killed him and his siblings before abducting his father.
Narrating the event in a piece he wrote in commemoration of Armed Forces Remembrance Day; he said the whole drama started around 2.00 a.m.
“My mother came into the bedroom which I shared with my older brother and younger sister. The lights had been cut off by the mutineers so we were in complete darkness and all we could see and hear were the headlights of about four heavy trucks.
“The occupants of the lorries, who were uniformed men who carried torches, positioned themselves and prepared to storm our home whilst calling my father’s name and ordering him to come out”, he said.
According to the former minister, the minute he stepped out, they beat him, tied him up and threw him into one of the lorries before storming their house.
“They were very brutal and frightful and we were terrified. They ransacked every nook and cranny, shooting into the ceiling and wardrobes.
“My mother was screaming and crying from the balcony because all she could do was focus on her husband who was in the back of the truck downstairs”.
He said his mother then started screaming “Don’t kill him, don’t kill him!!” the whole house in total chaos.
Fani-Kayode said he was standing in the middle of a passage upstairs surrounded by uniformed men who were ransacking the whole place and terrorising his family.
“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.
He continued: “After he said it the third time, I looked in his eyes and I stopped crying.
“This was because he gave me hope and he spoke with kindness and compassion. At that point all the fear and trepidation left me.
“With new-found confidence, I went rushing to my mother who was still screaming on the balcony and told her to stop crying because the soldier had promised that they would not kill my father and that everything would be okay”.
Fani-Kayode who identified the soldier as Captain Nwobosi, said “I held on to the words that morning and despite all that was going on around me, I never cried again”.
He said he believed that God used the soldier to pass a divine message as his father was later freed.
“If my father was killed, maybe I would not have been educated and be where I am today”, he stated.
He prayed for the souls of all those that were murdered during the incident and for God to make Nigeria great again.
