Former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has reflected on the nation?s first coup d?etat in 1966, recalling how he and other family members narrowly escaped being killed by rebelling soldiers who invaded his father?s official residence and abducted him.

The coup led by Major Chukwuemeka Kaduna Nzeogwu and other young military officers had claimed the lives of prominent Nigerian leaders, including the then Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa; the Premier of the old Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello (Sardauna of Sokoto); Premier of the Old Western Region, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola and Minister of Finance, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, to name a few.

Other Nigerian political leaders, including Chief Remilekun Adetokunbo Fani-Kayode, who then was the Deputy Premier of the Old Western Region, were also harassed, tortured and abducted by the coup planners.

Recalling his ugly experience as a little boy on that fateful morning of January 15, 1966, Fani-Kayode stated: ?The mutineers came to our home as well, which at that time was the official residence of the Deputy Premier of the Old Western Region, and which remains there till today.

?After storming our house and almost killing my brother, sister and me, they beat, brutalized and abducted my father, Chief Remi Fani-Kayode.

?What I witnessed that morning was traumatic and devastating and, of course, what the entire nation witnessed was horrific.

?It was a morning of carnage, barbarity and terror.?Those events set in motion a cycle of carnage which changed our entire history, and the consequences remain with us till this day.? (The Nation: Text, Excluding Headline)

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