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| Olusegun Obasanjo |
Fifty-nine years after one of the darkest episodes of the Nigerian Civil War, the wounds of the Asaba Massacre remain raw. On October 7, 2026, during the annual memorial in Asaba, Delta State, former President Olusegun Obasanjo delivered a virtual message as chairman of the occasion, urging survivors and the families of victims to embrace forgiveness and reconciliation. The Asagba of Asaba, Professor Epiphany Azinge, SAN, responded with measured dignity: the people can forgive, but they will not forget — and true closure requires a public apology from a sitting Nigerian president.
The exchange captured a deeper national tension that has lingered since 1967: how a country processes collective trauma when official acknowledgment remains incomplete.
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The Massacre: What Happened in October 1967
The events unfolded between October 5 and 7, 1967. Federal troops of the Nigerian Second Division, commanded by then-Colonel Murtala Muhammed, entered Asaba after pushing back Biafran forces that had earlier invaded the Midwest Region. The Biafrans retreated across the Niger River into Onitsha and destroyed part of the bridge, stranding the federal troops on the Asaba side.
Asaba, though ethnically and linguistically Igbo (Anioma), was not part of the secessionist Republic of Biafra. Its people largely identified with the idea of “One Nigeria.” Many residents, including professionals and civil servants, believed the federal troops would protect them. On October 7, townspeople from the five quarters of Asaba gathered in ceremonial white attire (akwa ocha), singing and chanting “One Nigeria” as a demonstration of loyalty. At Ogbe-Osowa, soldiers separated the men and older boys from the women and young children. Machine guns were turned on the assembled males. Estimates of the dead range from 500–800 (scholarly assessments by anthropologists S. Elizabeth Bird and Fraser Ottanelli) to well over 1,000 according to community accounts and some contemporary reports. Many bodies were buried in mass graves without traditional rites.
Looting, destruction of property, rape, and further killings continued during the subsequent military occupation. Entire extended families lost multiple male members. Women were left to hold communities together under severe hardship. For decades, the massacre received little official attention in Nigeria’s national narrative of the war.
Obasanjo’s Appeal and the Monarch’s Reply
At the 59th anniversary memorial, Obasanjo described the killings as “one of the most painful and terrible aspects” of the civil war. He said he wept after receiving documents detailing the events from Chief Chuks Nduka-Eze, the Isama Ajie of Asaba and convener of the memorial. “To all of you assembled: let us keep one thing in mind — forgiveness, forgiveness, and forgiveness again,” the former president said. He stressed the need to ensure such tragedies never recur.
Azinge, who ascended the throne in 2024, acknowledged the call while drawing a clear distinction. “We may not forget, but certainly, we have to forgive,” he said. He noted that former Head of State Yakubu Gowon had apologized while out of office, but insisted that only a sitting president’s public apology could bring genuine closure and healing. “We need a sitting president to apologise to Asaba people; that will bring closure.”
The traditional ruler also challenged the “never again” rhetoric, recalling the 1999 Odi massacre in Bayelsa State during Obasanjo’s own presidency, when federal troops destroyed much of the town in a military operation. “Coming from him, I was a bit taken aback. How long do we say ‘never again’? But it happened at Odi,” Azinge observed.
In a significant gesture of personal reconciliation, Azinge publicly proclaimed forgiveness for the family of the late Colonel Ibrahim Taiwo (associated with the Second Division’s operations). He accepted an apology from Taiwo’s son, retired Major-General Ahmed Ibrahim Taiwo, who had researched his father’s role and expressed regret on behalf of the family.
Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, represented by Secretary to the State Government Dr. Kingsley Emu, announced that the Federal Government was preparing a formal reconciliation declaration. He reaffirmed state recognition of the tragedy, pledged support for a permanent national memorial centre, and stated clearly that the killing of unarmed civilians can never be justified. Estimates shared at the event put the death toll above 1,000.
Why Forgiveness Alone Feels Incomplete
The Asaba conversation reflects a broader pattern in post-conflict societies. Forgiveness without acknowledgment often leaves survivors feeling that their suffering has been erased. South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Rwanda’s public remembrance of the 1994 genocide, and various European apologies for colonial or wartime atrocities show that official recognition frequently serves as a necessary foundation for societal healing.
In Nigeria, successive governments have largely treated the civil war through a prism of “no victor, no vanquished.” While this framing helped prevent further immediate conflict, it also left many specific atrocities — including Asaba — insufficiently documented or addressed in official history.
Survivors and descendants have repeatedly called for recognition, a federal university in Asaba as a form of institutional restitution, and formal apologies. Community lists of the dead remain incomplete; many families still lack death certificates or proper burial records for their loved ones.
The demand for a sitting president’s apology carries symbolic weight. An apology from someone currently holding the highest office signals that the Nigerian state itself accepts responsibility and commits to preventing recurrence. Past gestures by former leaders, while appreciated, have been viewed as personal rather than institutional.
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Memory as Resistance and Pathway
Chief Chuks Nduka-Eze framed the memorial’s message simply: “Nigerian lives matter.” Preparations are already underway for the 60th anniversary, with intensified efforts to establish a permanent memorial centre that would preserve names, testimonies, and historical records. Such institutions matter. They transform private grief into public history and ensure that younger generations understand the human cost of ethnic and political conflict.
The presence of figures such as the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, and the son of an officer credited with intervening to save lives during the massacre underscored that reconciliation can involve multiple layers — personal, communal, and national.
Asaba’s story is not only about 1967. It is about how a nation chooses to remember its most painful chapters. Obasanjo’s call for forgiveness is not without value; sustained bitterness can poison the present. Yet Azinge’s insistence on accountability highlights a complementary truth: forgiveness offered without recognition risks becoming a one-sided demand that places the burden of healing solely on the victims.
Nearly six decades later, the people of Asaba continue to remember those who died in white attire, singing for unity, only to be cut down. Their demand is straightforward: remember with honesty, acknowledge with authority, and then, perhaps, truly move forward together. Whether the Federal Government’s expected reconciliation declaration and any future presidential statement will meet that standard remains one of the quiet tests of Nigeria’s capacity for historical maturity.
Samuel O. Sulaimon is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Naijapiz. He covers News, Sports, Finance, Faiths, Education, Technology.
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