Background.
General Yakubu Gowon issued decree number 14 on May 27, 1967, dividing the former four regions of Nigeria into 12 new states—six in the north and six in the south. Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the governor of the Eastern Region, believed that the 1967 Aburi Accord had been broken by the creation of these states (without prior consultation).
This added salt to the political and racial wounds the nation had been dealing with long before it gained independence. Following the establishment of states, Col. In deciding whether to declare the secession of the Eastern Region from the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ojukwu took into account the seven-point resolution of the Eastern Assembly and the Advising Committee of Chiefs and Elders.
Finally, on May 30th, 1967, Col. The Nigerian civil war began as soon as Ojukwu proclaimed the Republic of Biafra as an independent nation.
How The Asaba Massacre Occurred .
The Asaba Massacre took place during the Biafran War, a phase of the Nigerian Civil War. This occurred from October 5 to October 7, 1967.
Two months prior to the Asaba Massacre, in August 1967, a division of the Eastern Region (Biafra) army under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Victor Banjo occupied Benin in Nigeria’s Midwestern Region.
Unfortunately for them, the proposed invasion failed for reasons related to the recently promoted Lieutenant Banjo. The Biafran army, also known as the Liberation Army, intended to use Benin as a launching point for the invasion of Ibadan and Lagos. Before leaving for Ibadan, Lieutenant Banjo wanted to make sure Benin was in capable hands so he wouldn’t be abruptly cut off from Biafra. (1981, Ademoyega).
Lieutenant Victor Banjo.
Due to Banjo’s defeat, the Federal (Nigerian) troops had the chance to retake Benin and expel the Biafran army. After pursuing the Biafran army into Asaba, they arrived in Onitsha. When the Biafran army entered Onitsha, they detonated a portion of the bridge, impeding the ability of the Federal forces to pursue them.
At this point, the residents of Asaba suffered their unfortunate fate. Second Division, Col., Nigerian Army, Murtala Muhammad turned around and returned to Asaba, where he killed numerous people, pillaged their homes, and committed other war crimes under the pretext that the victims were Biafran sympathizers. On October 5, 1967, this incident took place.
Mural depicting the Asaba massacre. October 7, 1967.
The residents of Asaba organized a dance to support One Nigeria on October 7th, two days after the federal troops arrived in Asaba, knowing that things could get worse. Boys, girls, and both sexes performed a dance while dressed in white (Akwa Ocha), repeatedly demonstrating the dance’s intention.
Regrettably, the federal troops made the dance a violent one. They separated the men from the women and killed the men. According to numerous sources, the Col. Murtala Muhammad and Col. The aspect of adult male killings was under Ibrahim Taiwo’s supervision.
Blood and corpses that had been piled up and buried in a mass grave filled Asaba, which was foul-smelling. None of the deceased could receive a decent burial with all appropriate funeral rites. The Asaba Massacre claimed the lives of up to 1000 people. According to a source, younger girls were raped, and the rebellious ones were killed by gunfire.
A video that chronicled the 1967 Asaba Massacre featured Patience Chukwura, one of the fortunate survivors, who was then a young mother expecting her fourth child and described how her husband, Eddie, was killed. Additionally, her father-in-law and two of her in-law brothers were brutally murdered.
Once the Nigerian civil war came to an end in 1970, many Asaba residents who had fled their homes never came back. Here is a 2013 video made by S.. Elizabeth Bird and Fraser Ottanelli detailing the Asaba massacre. Witnesses to the Asaba massacre described the terrible events and losses in this video.