Something happened on this day, Oct 7th, 1967, in the city of Asaba, present day Delta state. Federal troops of the Nigerian 2nd division gathered about 700 men and boys, some as young as 12, in the Ogbeosowa area of the town and executed them. The Nigerian army then proceeded to bury their bodies in mass graves. I have pondered on how best to narrate the context of the mass murder and the events leading up to this atrocity, but what is the point? 700 unarmed, innocent civilians were murdered in cold blood and buried unceremoniously in large pits, what more is there to say? This monstrous act alone is enough “history” for us to reflect on for a lifetime.
When examined closely the Asaba Massacre has all the makings of a “made in Nigeria” atrocity, the mass slaughter of unarmed civilians, the absence of justice for the victims and most importantly the celebration of the perpetrators. The name of the man who was said to have given this genocidal order, Ibrahim Taiwo, may not ring any bells, at least not like that of his superior Muritala Muhammed is sure to do, but it is important that we remember it, why? Because in true Nigerian fashion, not only did these men not face any repercussions for their despicable actions, they would go on to hold prominent positions in the Nigerian military government. After a plotting a successful coup 9 years later, Muritala Muhammed would become head of state, and his fellow gènocidaire, Ibrahim Taiwo would be rewarded with the position of governor of Kwara state.
Now, why do I say this is a most Nigerian story? I say this because rewarding perpetrators of violence with political power is nothing new, it didn’t start in 1967 and it didn’t stop in 1975. In 1953 a man by the name of Inuwa Wada led a group of irate Northern youths to the Sabon Gari area of Kano with the aim of killing Yorubas. He did this because he believed that the AG political rally which was set to hold in Kano was an insult to the Northern elite, this was how the Kano riots were sparked, unfortunately Igbos living in the north at the time would bear the brunt of this senseless violence. This same Inuwa Wada would be handed Nigeria’s defense portfolio a decade later, and in a classic case of “the Nigerias” he was also Muritala Muhammed’s uncle. So it would seem that more than one generation of Nigeria’s political elite was built on a foundation of shedding Igbo blood.
The Asaba massacre was not Muritala’s first venture into murdering Igbos, the counter coup of 1966 saw over 250 senior Igbo officers murdered in what nauseatingly tagged the “July rematch.” Around this same time Igbos were being murdered in the thousands in northern Nigeria, this was what triggered the agitation for an independent Biafra, which would eventually lead to a civil war that would see over a million more Igbos killed. The army officers who executed the 1966 counter-coup were Muritala Muhammed, TY Danjuma, Shehu Yar’adua, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, Sani Abacha, Ibrahim Bako and Muhammadu Buhari to name a few. Now how many past and present leaders of Nigeria can you see on that list, now ask yourself, how many of these men would have amounted to anything in Nigeria’s history had it not been for that unfortunate night in July?
One of the easiest ways to understand Nigeria’s dysfunction is to simply look at the caliber of people we have rewarded.
That even today we still have Muritala Muhammed on our 20 naira note and have our most important airport named after this war criminal, is evidence enough that we have made no evolution, morally, culturally or otherwise, in our National consciousness. And it shows, it shows in our recent past, it shows it our present. How else did we dance galala and suo to a song about a village getting razed to the ground by men of the Nigerian military, or what did you think was meant by “dem don kill dem mama eh”? How many more towns and cities have we had to associate with massacres after since then?
Something happened on this day, October 7th, in Asaba, something happened on November 20th, 1999 in Odi, that same thing repeated itself on the 17th of December 2015 (the Shiites and the general’s chest), that something may happen today and it will define it happen tomorrow. One thing that is constant in this Nigeria is that that “something” touches everybody, it may not be your community, ethnic group or region today, but that “something” will go round. Until we learn national shame, consciousness and introspection, we will continue to deal with them same atrocities decade after decade, a people that cannot critically reflect on their own history cannot evolve.
One lesson we have consistently failed to learn, alongside don’t reward evil, is that human life has value, and we are paying dearly for this. Just look around.
