Similarity To Future Events
Upon reading an advance copy of the novel, Achebe's friend, Nigerian poet and playwright John Pepper Clark declared: "Chinua, I know you are a prophet. Everything in this book has happened except a military coup!"
Later in 1966, Nigerian Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu seized control of the northern region of the country as part of a larger coup attempt. Commanders in other areas failed, and the plot was answered by a military crackdown which resulted in the presidency of Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi. A massacre of three thousand people from the eastern region living in the north occurred soon afterwards, and stories of other attacks on Igbo Nigerians began to filter into Lagos. In July 1966, Ironsi was himself overthrown by Yakubu Gowon (continuing the cycle of transition by violence, Gowon was overthrown by General Murtala Mohammed who died a year later in yet another coup attempt).
Because Achebe's novel mirrored the coup that came shortly after the novel's publication, military personnel suspected him of having foreknowledge of the coup. Achebe evacuated his pregnant wife, Christie, and their children, to Port Harcourt. They arrived safely, but Christie suffered a miscarriage at the journey's end. Chinua rejoined them soon afterwards in Ogidi.
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