The Asaba Massacre & the ongoing slow-motion genocide in Nigeria

Why did soldiers of the Nigerian Second Division under the command of Col. Murtala Muhammed and Major Ibrahim Taiwo premeditatedly massacre hundreds of men and boys in Asaba in October 1967? Why Asaba? How is it connected to the killings going on today in several parts of Nigeria?

As I prepared my lesson notes for a new semester of teaching Postcolonial African History at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, I researched the history of genocides in Africa. I was looking for new material to enhance my understanding of the causes, the visible and invisible human cost, and why such horror has continued across the African continent.

It is one of those unpleasant subjects to teach non-Africans. There’s the risk that these young and impressionable students from all over the world would form the impression that my folks were savages. Of course, I could make myself feel better by providing a certain background and context. I could stress that the European colonial powers that took over Africa, sliced it up among themselves without care, and governed it purely for their exclusive benefit sowed the seeds of the continent’s myriad crises. Or I could broaden the historical compass to point out the savage impulse present in every epoch in human history. I could argue that the history of mankind buttresses that…