Obasanjo: Causes of Nigeria’s Civil War Still with Us, Denies Role in Asaba Massacre

James Sowole in Abeokuta

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, re-echoed some issues on Nigeria’s civil war, saying things led to the war still lingered among the citizens and institutions in the country.

Obasanjo said despite purported justifications in some quarter, Nigeria must not witness another civil war.

Obasanjo issued the warning at the presentation of a historical document on Nigeria’s Civil War, titled, “Asaba Massacre,” by the Isama Aje of Asaba, Chief Chuck Nduka-Eze, to him at the Olusegun Obasanjo Library (OOPL), Abeokuta.

The document, also in audio-visual form, according to the author, was grounded in a substantial and carefully cross-referenced body of evidence, including eyewitness testimonies, recorded interviews, archival materials, audio-visual documentation, and established historical scholarship.

Obasanjo said, though, he was involved in the civil war, he had confessed to people that he could not give account of the “Asaba Massacre” because Murtala Muhammed was in charge of the area.

The former president commended Nduka-Eze for the work, and said there were questions people had asked him about Murtala’s role in the civil war and Asaba operations, which he could not comment on.

He promised to go through the compilation of the transcript and the audio-visual materials.

Obasanjo stated, “We pride ourselves that we preserve the past, we capture the present, and we inspire the future. We capture the past, and this is the past; we want to capture it, we want to know about it.

“I must confess and you know that I was involved in the civil war. When people talk about Asaba massacre, I always confess that I cannot give details of it.”

Obasanjo, who narrated how he prevented some bad things from happening during the civil war, mentioned how he prevented a soldier from raping a woman in Asaba, which would have led to him having vicarious liabilities.

He stated, “Some of the things that led to the civil war are still on. Now, how long will this be with us? I was with a colleague when General Yakubu Gowon said, ‘We will not survive a second civil war as a country’, and which, I believe, that we have fought one civil war too many already.

“So, to say that we will have a second civil war, God forbid. And getting ourselves to know some of what happened, and to say yes, we condemn what happened that should not have happened, and then make sure that we do everything humanly possible to prevent its recurrence.

“And then, for us to be able to say, ‘never again’. What are we going to have for us to be able to say, ‘never again’?

“Thank you very much for making people to know about it, for people to learn about it, and for people to take a vow that never again. And I say to you, never. I will do everything possible to say never.”

Giving insight into the work, Asaba Massacre, Nduka-Eze described it as a substantial and carefully cross-referenced body of evidence, including eyewitness testimonies, recorded interviews, archival materials, audio visual documentation, and established historical scholarship.

He said across independent sources, a clear and consistent account emerged of events following the entry of federal troops into Asaba, then a civilian population centre in the Mid-West region.

He stated, “The evidence establishes a recurring pattern. Civilians were assembled in public places under conditions of fear and uncertainty. During these assemblies, residents were required to proclaim allegiance to the Nigerian state, including being instructed to declare ‘One Nigeria’ and otherwise demonstrate loyalty.

“In a setting where identity and suspicion had become dangerously intertwined, these acts were understood by those present as affirmations of belonging and safety.

“Men were then separated from women and children. Thereafter, unarmed male civilians were killed in a manner consistently described across multiple independent accounts.

“Compliance with these demands did not secure protection. The sequence, repeated across testimonies, reflects a tragic contradiction in which individuals who openly affirmed their identity and loyalty as Nigerians were, nonetheless, killed in the most undignified manner by the same Nigerian state that they pledge their allegiance to.

“This sequence is corroborated by testimonies, documentary materials, and scholarly works, and remains materially unchallenged.

“While precise casualty figures cannot be definitively fixed, the convergence of credible evidence points to a substantial loss of civilian life (over a thousand men) and a profound rupture in the fabric of the Asaba community.”

Like Obasanjo, Nduka-Eze said those issues that led to the civil war were still with the country, as ethnic groups continued to relate with one another with suspicion.