Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned that many of the conditions that led to Nigeria’s 1967–1970 Civil War still exist, urging Nigerians to work together to ensure the country never experiences another conflict.
Obasanjo stated this while receiving books, research materials, videos and eyewitness interviews documenting the Asaba Massacre and related events from the Chairman of the Asaba Memorial Trust and the Asaba Image Branding and Project Committee, Chief Chuck Nduka-Eze, at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta.
Describing the prospect of another civil war as unimaginable, the former president said Nigeria had already paid too high a price for its past conflict.
“What went wrong in the past is essential to preventing a repeat. We must do everything humanly possible to prevent its recurrence,” he said.
Obasanjo urged Nigerians to embrace a collective commitment to ensuring that civil war never happens again.
“Some of the things that led to the Civil War are still with us. How long will this remain so?
“I was with a colleague when Gen. Yakubu Gowon said we would not survive a second civil war as a country. I believe we have fought one civil war too many already.
“To say that we will have a second civil war—God forbid. We must understand what happened, condemn what should not have happened and do everything possible to prevent its recurrence.
“We must be able to say, ‘Never again,’ and take deliberate steps to make that a reality,” he added.
Obasanjo commended Nduka-Eze for preserving historical records of the Asaba Massacre, saying documenting the past was essential for helping future generations understand history, learn from it and prevent similar tragedies.
He noted that one of the core objectives of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library is to preserve the past, capture the present and inspire the future, stressing that understanding the events surrounding the Civil War remains important for national healing and reconciliation.
Reflecting on his role during the war, Obasanjo acknowledged serving as a military commander but said he was not in a position to provide detailed accounts of the Asaba Massacre because operations in that area were under the command of the late former Head of State, Gen. Murtala Mohammed.
He recalled that towards the end of the war he was assigned responsibilities aimed at preventing further civilian massacres, insisting that abuses by soldiers were never officially condoned.
The former president recounted an occasion when he personally stopped a soldier from assaulting a civilian woman in Asaba, saying commanders had a duty to hold their troops accountable for misconduct.
He also noted that former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, had publicly acknowledged and apologised for excesses committed during the war, maintaining that atrocities such as the Asaba Massacre were neither authorised nor sanctioned by the country’s leadership.
Obasanjo pledged to study the documents and audiovisual materials presented to him, reiterating his commitment to ensuring that Nigeria never descends into another civil war.
Presenting the materials, Nduka-Eze described the documentation as an extensive body of evidence comprising eyewitness testimonies, recorded interviews, archival documents, audiovisual records and historical research.
According to him, multiple independent sources consistently showed that following the entry of federal troops into Asaba, civilians were assembled in public places and required to demonstrate loyalty to Nigeria by declaring “One Nigeria.”
He said men were subsequently separated from women and children before many unarmed male civilians were killed, despite publicly affirming their allegiance to the Nigerian state.
Nduka-Eze said although the exact number of casualties remains uncertain, available evidence suggests that more than 1,000 civilians lost their lives, leaving lasting scars on the Asaba community.
He added that ethnic mistrust, unresolved grievances from Nigeria’s first military coup and the failure to ensure accountability were among the factors that contributed to both the Asaba Massacre and the outbreak of the Civil War.
According to him, many of the divisions that fuelled the conflict remain unresolved, with ethnic suspicion continuing to shape relationships among different groups in the country.
