Civil War Genocides
The genocide of Anioma by Gen. Murtala Mohammed and Major Gen. Ibrahim Haruna (Retd), during the Nigerian-Biafran War started on the 21 of September, 1967 on the recapture of Benin City from the Biafrans sweeping large Anioma towns of Asaba, Ogwashi-Uku, Ibusa, Otutu, Ishiagu, Igbodo, Aboh and Ushisha but the massacres carried out in Asaba remains the most severe and unforgettable in which mostly helpless women, youths and children were killed in rapidity by the federal troops. It has been noted that the massacres were organized and mostly carried out under the supervision of Maj Gen Ibrahim Haruna (Retd) and the reason was that Gen Murtala Muhammed was aggrieved and suspicious of the Anioma as having aided their Igbo kinsmen to invade the Mid west.
Gen. Yakubu Gowon (Retd) the then Head of State would later apologize to the Igbo community, while Major-General Ibrahim Haruna, the General officer Commanding (GOC) Two Division of the Army during the Civil War while testifying at the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission Panel aka Oputa Panel held in 2004, insistently maintained that he had no regret for the Asaba massacres in which the Igbo were killed by his troops since it was motivated by sense of duty to protect the unity of the country, he stated this under cross examination by Ohanaeze Ndiigbo group.
Read more about this topic: Anioma People
Famous quotes containing the words civil and/or war:
“... one of the blind spots of most Negroes is their failure to realize that small overtures from whites have a large significance ... I now realize that this feeling inevitably takes possession of one in the bitter struggle for equality. Indeed, I share it. Yet I wonder how we can expect total acceptance to step full grown from the womb of prejudice, with no embryo or infancy or childhood stages.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 10 (1962)
“Armies, for the most part, are made up of men drawn from simple and peaceful lives. In time of war they suddenly find themselves living under conditions of violence, requiring new rules of conduct that are in direct contrast to the conditions they lived under as civilians. They learn to accept this to perform their duties as fighting men.”
—Gil Doud, U.S. screenwriter, and Jesse Hibbs. Walter Bedell Smith (Himself)