Asaba Massacre: FG Set For Formal Reconciliation Declaration 59 Years After

The federal government is set to make a formal reconciliation declaration over the 1967 Asaba Massacre in Delta State, 59 years after hundreds of people were killed during the Nigerian Civil War.

Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Kingsley Emu, disclosed this on Wednesday at the anniversary memorial in Asaba.

Oborevwori said official acknowledgement of the tragedy by governments was critical to reconciliation, noting that Delta State had acknowledged the massacre and that Nigeria would also acknowledge it.

“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,” he said.

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

He said the state would support national recognition of the massacre and the establishment of a fitting national memorial, stressing that remembering the tragedy should not be interpreted as an attack on Nigeria.

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

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

Also speaking, the Asagba of Asaba, Prof Epiphany Azinge, said the community had forgiven but had not forgotten the massacre.

Azinge, however, insisted that a sitting President of Nigeria must publicly apologise to the people of Asaba before the tragedy could be fully laid to rest.

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

Maj-Gen Ahmed Ibrahim Taiwo (retd.), son of the late Maj Ibrahim Taiwo, an Army officer associated with the events, also apologised to the people of Asaba after researching his father’s role in the massacre.

“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, in a recorded message, described the massacre as “one of the most painful and disturbing aspects of the Nigerian Civil War” and urged the people to forgive.

Obasanjo said he wept after reviewing documents relating to the killings, adding, “Never again will such a black and unpleasant day occur in Nigeria or anywhere else in Africa.”

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

He questioned why the country had yet to fully explain the killing of civilians during the massacre.

The Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, called for truth, justice, restoration and healing, saying forgiveness should follow.

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

Emu said the state was proposing the establishment of a memorial centre to preserve the names, testimonies and records of the victims for future generations.

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

He said Asaba had endured the consequences of the tragedy and emerged stronger, adding that reconciliation was about forgiveness rather than revenge.