The Federal Government is set to make a formal reconciliation declaration over the 1967 Asaba Massacre, 59 years after hundreds of civilians were killed during the Nigerian Civil War.
Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori disclosed this on Wednesday at the annual memorial of the massacre in Asaba, saying the planned declaration would mark a significant step towards reconciliation.
Represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Kingsley Emu, the governor said official acknowledgement of the tragedy by the Federal Government was essential to healing the wounds of the past.
“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.”
Oborevwori said the state would continue to support efforts to secure national recognition of the massacre and establish a fitting national memorial.
He stressed that remembering the killings should not be interpreted as an attack on Nigeria, but as a means of drawing lessons from the country’s history.
“Never again should ethnicity, suspicion or political conflict become a licence for the killing of innocent people,” the governor said.
“Do not inherit its bitterness; inherit its lessons,” he added.
The development came as the Asagba of Asaba, Prof Epiphany Azinge, said the community had forgiven those responsible for the killings but would not forget the tragedy.
Azinge, however, said a public apology from a sitting President remained necessary for the community to achieve full closure.
“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.”
The memorial also featured an apology from retired Maj-Gen Ahmed Ibrahim Taiwo, whose late father, Maj Ibrahim Taiwo, was associated with the events surrounding the massacre.
Taiwo said he had spent years researching his father’s role 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, in a recorded message to the memorial, described the massacre as “one of the most painful and disturbing aspects of the Nigerian Civil War” and urged Nigerians to embrace forgiveness.
Obasanjo said he wept after receiving documents detailing the killings, adding, “Never again will such a black and unpleasant day occur in Nigeria or anywhere else in Africa.”
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”, while questioning why the country had yet to fully account for the killing of civilians in Asaba.
The Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, called for truth, justice, restoration and healing before forgiveness.
“There must be truth. There must be justice. There must be healing. And then, forgiveness can follow,” he said.
Emu said the proposed national 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.
He added that the people of Asaba had endured the consequences of the massacre and emerged stronger, stressing that reconciliation was about forgiveness rather than revenge.
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