By Chuks Iloegbunam
An Igbo saying goes like this: If a man’s chi (personal god) is not a party to the scheme, death will not kill him. On the morning of July 30, 1966, Midshipman Alison Madueke, boarded a KLM, Royal Dutch Airline plane for London, via Amsterdam.
He was on his way to officer training at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Devon, England. The plane started taxiing for takeoff. But midway, as it gathered speed, the attempt was aborted. The pilot addressed the passengers through the intercom: “This is the captain speaking. Will the three Naval officers flying to London please alight? They are wanted by the military authorities.” Down on the tarmac, Alison was seized and manhandled by Northern Nigerian military officers and men. The July 29, 1966 countercoup, the bloodiest putsch in African history, was underway.