The Lawyer From Chelsea
Chief Victor Babaremilekun Adetokunboh Fani-Kayode, popularly known as Remi Fani-Kayode, was one of Nigeria’s most brilliant and complex political figures — a Cambridge-trained lawyer who became Deputy Premier of the old Western Region at the height of First Republic politics.
Born on December 22, 1921, in Chelsea, London, he had an elite education that was rare for his time. He studied Law at Downing College, Cambridge University, was called to the English Bar in 1945, rose to become a Queen’s Counsel (QC) and later, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
He was part of the generation of nationalists who fought for independence, a fierce orator, and a key lieutenant in the Action Group before his political alliance shifted. In 1963, following the deep crisis in the Western Region, he became Deputy Premier under Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola in the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) government.
Then came the night that changed Nigeria forever.
2 A.M., January 15, 1966: They Came For Him
In the early hours of January 15, 1966, Nigeria was plunged into darkness. A group of young Army Majors launched the country’s first military coup, targeting the political leadership of the First Republic.
The hit-list was long: Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa in Lagos, Sardauna of Sokoto Sir Ahmadu Bello in Kaduna, Premier Akintola in Ibadan.
And Deputy Premier Remi Fani-Kayode in Ibadan.
At about 2 a.m., several military trucks pulled up to his official residence. The electricity to the house had been cut. Soldiers surrounded the premises.
According to his son, Femi Fani-Kayode, who was only six years old at the time, Chief Fani-Kayode made a decision that saved his family. He stepped out to meet the soldiers himself, telling his wife and children to stay inside, unwilling to let the armed men enter his home.
What followed was brutal.
He was beaten, tied up, and dragged into one of the waiting military trucks. His wife, Chief Mrs. Adia Adunni Fani-Kayode, was left screaming as the convoy drove off into the night. The family did not know if they would ever see him again.
Their fear was justified. By dawn, the nation learned that Balewa, Bello, and Akintola had been killed, along with senior military officers. The assumption was that Fani-Kayode had suffered the same fate.
Alive in Dodan Barracks
But he was alive.
He had been taken to Lagos and held at Dodan Barracks, then the seat of military power. As the coup began to unravel — with Major-General Aguiyi-Ironsi rallying loyalist troops — a rescue operation was mounted.
According to Femi Fani-Kayode’s account, loyalist troops led by Lieutenant Tokida, under the command of Captain Paul Tarfa, on orders from then Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon, stormed the barracks and freed him.
Two days after his abduction, the telephone rang at the Fani-Kayode home in Ibadan. It was him. He was alive.
The relief was overwhelming. But freedom was short-lived.
Detention, Exile and Return
After the coup failed, the new military government of General Aguiyi-Ironsi detained many of the First Republic politicians who had survived, including Chief Fani-Kayode. He spent months in detention before being released.
When the counter-coup of July 1966 brought General Yakubu Gowon to power and the country descended into a deeper crisis, Fani-Kayode left Nigeria with his family. They settled in Brighton, England, where they lived for several years.
He was far from finished.
He returned to Nigeria and re-entered politics during the Second Republic as a founding member of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) — the party that won power in 1979 — and served as its National Vice-Chairman. He was later honoured with the national award of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON).
Chief Remi Fani-Kayode died in October 1995 at the age of 73.
He remains a significant figure in Nigeria’s political history — a man who rose to the height of regional power, looked death in the face on the night Nigeria’s democracy first fell, survived an abduction that killed many of his peers, and lived to write another chapter in the nation’s turbulent story.
Source: Femi Fani-Kayode — Personal account of the January 15, 1966 coup and family records.
