The Nigerian civil war ended 52 years ago. But for the indigenes of Asaba, Delta State, it is still like yesterday. The pain refuses to pale. They are in deep mourning. It has been difficult for them to get over the shock, the agony and the heartbreak which emanated from the massacre of hundreds of their own in cold blood during the war.
So, as they prepare for the activities in remembrance of their kinsmen so massacred, they are asking the Federal Government of Nigeria not only to publicly apologise to them, but to pay them compensation.
Reeling out the agony of his people at a press conference, Prof. Epiphany Azinge, President, Asaba Development Union, ADU, said even though the people could approach the International Criminal Court, ICC, to file for a case of genocide and seek justice, they prefer to negotiate with the Nigerian Government, have a closure, and get a proper resting place for their dead.
Said Azinge: “The closure that we seek is the closure of a much more official apology, the closure of adequate compensation to the families of the bereaved as the case may be. But even if we achieve these as we demand, we will continue to remember our fallen heroes.
“Nobody should also imagine that we can be stopped from doing what we are doing because it is totally and fully within our rights so to do.
“The day is not exclusively meant for indigenes of Asaba, but across board where such awkward deaths occurred. It is another way to say never again to such killings, not only for Asaba, but all over the country. Those who suffered such fate in Odi, Benue and other places, particularly Asaba, we are not set to suffer it again”
The memorial activities begin from Igbeseowe quarters, Asaba, the spot of the massacre of the innocent, on October 7, according Prof. Azinge.
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