Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned that many of the conditions that led to Nigeria’s Civil War still persist, stressing that the country must never experience another civil war.
He said that despite whatever justifications some people may advance, Nigeria cannot afford another civil war and must do everything possible to prevent a recurrence.
Obasanjo made the remarks in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, during the presentation of a historical document on the Nigerian Civil War titled Asaba Massacre by the Isama Aje of Asaba, Chief Chuck Nduka-Eze, at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library.
Warning against a repeat of the conflict, the former president said many of the issues that triggered the civil war remain unresolved.
“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 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 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.”
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Obasanjo said the historical account was important because it would help preserve the past and enable Nigerians to learn from it.
“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,” he said.
The former president, who participated in the civil war, said he had always admitted that he could not give details about the Asaba Massacre because the area was under the command of Murtala Muhammed.
He said many people had asked him about Murtala Muhammed’s role in the Civil War and the Asaba operations, but he could not comment on it. He, however, promised to study the transcript and audiovisual materials presented by the author.
“I must confess, and you know that I was involved in the civil war. When people talk about the Asaba Massacre, I always confess that I cannot give details of it.”
Obasanjo also recalled preventing some atrocities during the civil war, including stopping a soldier from raping a woman in Asaba, which he said would have attracted vicarious liability.
According to Nduka-Eze, the Asaba Massacre document, published in both print and audiovisual formats, is grounded in a substantial and carefully cross-referenced body of evidence, including eyewitness testimonies, recorded interviews, archival materials, audiovisual documentation and established historical scholarship.
Giving further insight into the work, he said a clear and consistent account emerged across independent sources of events following the entry of federal troops into Asaba, then a civilian population centre in the Mid-West Region.
“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 to which they pledged their allegiance.
“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,” he said.
Like Obasanjo, Nduka-Eze said the issues that led to the civil war are still with Nigeria, noting that ethnic groups continue to relate to one another with suspicion.
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