Vanguard Nigeria: "Revisiting The 1967 Asaba Massacre"

Image: Ogbeosowe mass ground

Image Credit: Vanguard Nigeria

Vanguard Nigeria reports:

"...the massacre of hundreds of innocent civilians began in Asaba more than 40 years ago..."

"It started on October 4, 1967, when Nigerian federal troops entered Asaba, the Niger River town that was then part of Nigeria’s Midwest Region. The war over the secession of the predominantly-Igbo Eastern Region, renamed Biafra, had broken out in July; in August, the Biafran army had advanced across the Niger Bridge and progressed through the Midwest, headed for Lagos. Federal troops counter-attacked, pushing the Biafrans back across the Niger at Asaba. The Biafrans blew up the Onitsha end of the bridge, leaving the Federal Second Division, commanded by Col. Murtala Muhammed, on the Asaba side. Asaba, although ethnically related to the Eastern Igbo, remained part of Nigeria, and supported the government’s ideal of a multi-ethnic “One Nigeria.” As Wole Soyinka wrote in 1972, the Midwestern Igbo, caught between their desire to remain part of the federation and their identity with Eastern cousins, became “the most vulnerable Nigerians.” Asaba had a long tradition of high education, producing a disproportionate number of professionals and high-ranking civil servants, who had contributed to a sense of allegiance to a united Nigeria, and trust that Federal troops would behave appropriately. Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, had issued a military Code of Conduct, so when troops arrived, the townsfolk were unprepared for what followed. Soldiers occupied the town, and began killing civilians (mainly boys and young men) accused of Biafran collaboration. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, were killed in the next three days, some apparently randomly, while others appeared to be targeted....:" Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/10/revisiting-1967-asaba-massacre/