Asaba massacre at 59: Obasanjo apologises, monarch demands president’s apology

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged forgiveness and reconciliation 59 years after the Asaba Massacre, while the Asagba of Asaba, Obi Epiphany Azinge, demanded an apology from a sitting Nigerian president.

According to Vanguard, both spoke during Wednesday’s anniversary memorial in Asaba, Delta State.

Obasanjo described the killings as “one of the most painful, one of the most terrible aspects” of the Nigerian Civil War.

“To all of you assembled: let us keep one thing in mind — forgiveness, forgiveness, and forgiveness again,” he said.

Azinge agreed on forgiveness but insisted official acknowledgement remained necessary.

“We may not forget, but certainly, we have to forgive.”

He added that “there will be no closure, there will be no healing until a sitting President — not an ex-President, but a sitting President — publicly apologises to us.”

The monarch also publicly proclaimed forgiveness for the family of Col. Ibrahim Taiwo.