Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, yesterday, announced that a formal reconciliation pronouncement would soon be made by the federal government over the 1967 Asaba Massacre.
The governor made this known through the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Kingsley Emu at the anniversary remembrance of the atrocity in Asaba 59 years after hundreds of people were massacred during the Nigerian Civil War. Buy African Artwork
Oborevwori said the admission of the tragedy by the federal government was very important to reconciliation. “Delta State had already recognised the massacre , The PUNCH reports.
Official approval by the respective governments is essential. Delta State has confirmed the incident. “Nigeria will recognise it, and we believe the world will recognise it too,” he said.
“We are hopeful that the government of Nigeria will make a formal declaration of reconciliation,” the governor said.
He said the state government will continue to back efforts for national acknowledgement of the murder and establishment of a befitting national memorial. He stressed that recalling the tragedy was not an attack on Nigeria.
“Never again should ethnicity, suspicion or political conflict be the licence for the killing of innocent people,” Oborevwori stated.
“Don’t inherit its bitterness,” he said, “inherit its lessons.
This occurred as the Asagba of Asaba, Prof Epiphany Azinge, said the community had forgiven but would not forget the massacre, adding that a sitting President must apologise publicly before the people would gain true closure. TrackExec Orders
“We have moved on.” Azinge stated there can be no closure and no healing until a sitting President of Nigeria formally apologises to the Asaba people.
The monument was also marked by an impassioned apology by Maj-Gen Ahmed Ibrahim Taiwo (retd), son of the late Maj Ibrahim Taiwo, an Army officer associated with the incident.
Taiwo claimed he spent years studying his father’s role in the slaughter before deciding to apologise to the people of Asaba.
“I cannot change what happened, but I believe and I pray that this gesture can be a step to reconciliation,” he added.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who sent a recorded greeting to the occasion, called the massacre as “one of the most painful and disturbing aspects of the Nigerian Civil War,” and asked Nigerians to embrace forgiveness. TrackExec Commands
Obasanjo said he had grieved after being given documents outlining the killing, adding: “There will never be such a black and unpleasant day in Nigeria or anywhere else in Africa again.”
Convener of the memorial, Isama Ajie of Asaba, said the main message of the remembrance was that “Nigerian lives matter”, and questioned why the country had not adequately justified the massacre of citizens in Asaba.
Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, Obi of Onitsha, said Nigeria must go toward truth, justice, restoration and healing, adding that forgiveness should be the end result of those stages.
“There must be truth,” stated Achebe, There must be justice. There has to be healing. And then forgiveness can follow.”
Emu meantime said the proposed memorial center would preserve the names, testimonials and records of the victims for future generations.
“There are survivors,” he continued. We have the witnesses.” We have names, even if they are not yet exhaustive.”
He said, “The people of Asaba have suffered the consequence of the massacre and have come out stronger and reconciliation is about forgiveness and not revenge.
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