Daniel Etim-Effiong: How My Father Escaped Execution and Spent 34 Years In Prison

Nigerian actor Daniel Etim-Effiong has shared the story of his father’s long imprisonment and narrow escape from execution following a military coup plot decades ago.

In a recent interview with Diary of a Naija Girl, the actor revealed that his father, Moses Effiong, a retired lieutenant colonel, was detained when Daniel was only one year old. The arrest followed the Mamman Vatsa coup plot during the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida.

According to the actor, his father was not part of the plot but was implicated by a colleague during interrogations. While many others involved were sentenced to death and executed by firing squad at Kirikiri prison, his father narrowly escaped death in what he described as a “miracle.”

“Three soldiers, including my dad, were pulled aside and told to stay while others were moved,” Etim-Effiong explained. “Those who were moved were taken to the back of the prison and shot. That is how he survived.”