A new documentary, Asaba Massacre: October 1967, is reopening one of the darkest chapters of Nigeria’s civil war, bringing renewed attention to a tragedy that many Nigerians, particularly younger generations, know little about.

Produced by Chief Chuck Nduka-Eze, the Isama Ajie of Asaba, and directed by historian and documentarist Nze Ed Emeka Keazor, the film documents the mass killing of unarmed civilians by Nigerian troops in Asaba in October 1967.

The documentary had its international premiere at the Africa Centre in London on 26 October, followed by a Nigerian premiere at the Jet Ski Club in Ikoyi, Lagos, on 26 November 2025.

For Nduka-Eze, the project is rooted in personal loss and communal responsibility. He said his motivation stemmed from his own experience of bereavement during the massacre and a deep sense of duty to his people. “I considered it a duty of sacred trust to my community,” he said, explaining that the aim was to document events that profoundly shaped Asaba and its indigenes.

The journey to the finished film began three years ago, when he commissioned Keazor to research, direct and produce the documentary. That process involved historical investigation, survivor testimonies and careful editorial judgement to ensure accuracy without sensationalism. The result, Nduka-Eze said, is a work that seeks to give voice not only to his own pain but also to the many others whose lives were irreversibly altered by the tragedy.

The Asaba massacre occurred when soldiers of the Second Division of the Nigerian Army entered the town in October 1967 during the civil war. According to documented accounts referenced in the film, troops led at the time by Lt. Col. Murtala Muhammed, with Lt Col Ibrahim Taiwo as his deputy, gathered unarmed civilians, mostly men and boys, at Ogbeosowa Square. The victims, believing they were being asked to demonstrate loyalty to the Federal Government, marched singing “One Nigeria”. Instead, they were executed en masse. More than 1,000 Asaba men were killed.

Nduka-Eze stressed that Asaba was within federal territory at the time, making the killings particularly troubling. Nigerian soldiers, he noted, executed fellow Nigerians on Nigerian soil while the victims proclaimed national unity. “They desecrated and violated the sacred essence of our national identity,” he said, adding that these core facts have never been denied yet remain insufficiently reported and addressed.

The premieres themselves became acts of remembrance and communal reflection. In London, His Royal Majesty the Asagba of Asaba, Professor Epiphany Azinge, attended as guest of honour.

The event was hosted at the Africa Centre by Nduka-Eze alongside its chairman, Professor Oba Nsugbe KC SAN, who also lost his grandfather in the massacre.

Members of the Asaba diaspora were present, including academics and researchers such as Professor Victor Izegbu and Professor Liz Bird, author of Asaba Massacre: Trauma, Memory and the Nigerian Civil War, as well as guests from the United States.

The Lagos premiere drew a similarly distinguished audience. Among those in attendance were Her Royal Majesty Agu Nwanyi Modupe Edozien, widow of the late Asagba Professor Chike Edozien; the Netherlands’ Consul-General, Michel Dellen; and the Director-General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Gbile Holloway.

The screening was followed by a panel discussion featuring legal practitioners and cultural figures, including Supo Shasore SAN, Aduke Gomez, Demola Akinrele, SAN and Chijioke Okoli, SAN.

Panellists reflected on the massacre’s enduring social and psychological impact and the need for resolution in the national interest.

Revisiting such trauma, Nduka-Eze acknowledged, was never going to be easy.

While the process reopened painful memories, he said it also offered a necessary opportunity for reflection both for Asaba and for Nigeria. The intention, he explained, was to hold up a mirror to the nation and interrogate the deeper questions of humanity, responsibility and remembrance.

Editorially, the filmmakers faced difficult choices in depicting violence and suffering.

Nduka-Eze said he instructed the director to produce a work that was historically accurate and sensitively handled but also clear and unambiguous in presenting the facts. The balance, he said, was essential to avoid minimising the crime or exploiting the pain of victims.

On the question of justice, Nduka-Eze was unequivocal. He does not believe adequate justice has been served. He said the Asaba community has consistently communicated its demands to successive authorities, most recently to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who granted an audience to a delegation led by the Asagba. The community, he said, hopes its calls will finally be given due consideration.

Looking ahead, he argued that integrating events such as the Asaba massacre into national memory and education is crucial. “A nation that does not learn from its past is bound to repeat the same mistakes,” he said.

Memorialisation and education, he added, remain among the most effective ways to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again. (The Guardian)

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