After 59 years, FG revisits Asaba Massacre

The Federal Government is set to make a formal reconciliation declaration over the 1967 Asaba Massacre, Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, has said.

Oborevwori, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Kingsley Emu, disclosed this at the 59th anniversary memorial of the massacre in Asaba, where hundreds of people were killed during the Nigerian Civil War.

The governor said official acknowledgement of the tragedy by the Federal Government was critical to reconciliation, noting that the Delta State Government had already recognised the massacre.

“An official acknowledgement by the respective governments is critical. Delta State has acknowledged the tragedy. Nigeria will acknowledge it, and we believe the world will also acknowledge it,” Oborevwori said.

He added, “A formal reconciliation declaration will be made by the Nigerian government, and we are hopeful that this will happen.”

The governor said the state government would continue to support efforts to secure national recognition of the massacre and establish a fitting national memorial.

He stressed that remembering the tragedy was not an attack on Nigeria, warning against the use of ethnicity, suspicion or political conflict as justification for killing innocent people.

“Never again should ethnicity, suspicion or political conflict become a licence for the killing of innocent people,” he said.

Oborevwori urged Nigerians not to inherit the bitterness of the past but to learn from it, saying, “Do not inherit its bitterness; inherit its lessons.”

The development came as the Asagba of Asaba, Prof Epiphany Azinge, said the community had forgiven but would not forget the massacre.

Azinge, however, said full closure would require a public apology from a sitting President of Nigeria.

“We have moved on,” Azinge said, adding that “there will be no closure and no healing until a sitting President of Nigeria publicly apologises to the Asaba people.”

The memorial also witnessed an emotional apology from retired Major-General Ahmed Ibrahim Taiwo, son of late Major Ibrahim Taiwo, an Army officer associated with the events.

Taiwo said he had spent years researching his father’s role in the massacre before deciding to apologise to the people of Asaba.

“I cannot change what happened, but I believe and pray that this gesture can be a step towards reconciliation,” he said.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who sent a recorded message to the event, described the massacre as one of the most painful and disturbing aspects of the Nigerian Civil War.

Obasanjo urged Nigerians to embrace forgiveness, saying he wept after receiving documents detailing the massacre.

“Never again will such a black and unpleasant day occur in Nigeria or anywhere else in Africa,” he said.

The Isama Ajie of Asaba and convener of the memorial, Chief Chuks Nduka-Eze, said the central message of the commemoration was that Nigerian lives matter.

Nduka-Eze questioned why Nigeria had not fully explained the killing of civilians in Asaba.

The Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, called for truth, justice, restoration and healing, stressing that forgiveness should follow those steps.

“There must be truth. There must be justice. There must be healing. And then, forgiveness can follow,” Achebe said.

Meanwhile, Emu said the proposed memorial centre would preserve the names, testimonies and records of victims for future generations.

“We have survivors. We have testimonies. We have names, even if they may not yet be exhaustive,” he said.

The SSG added that the people of Asaba had endured the consequences of the massacre and emerged stronger, stressing that reconciliation should be about forgiveness rather than revenge.