An Asaba traditional ruler and elder statesman, Chief Sunny in interview with BBC Igbo, gives an account of the massacre that took place in the thick of the civil war, at Asaba in the 60s.
According to him, he watched his kinsmen mowed down by the soldiers. He took a lifesaving decision to run from the shooting.
Barely out of sight, the then Sunny was accosted by another platoon of soldiers who ordered him and a few others to halt and face a ready shallow grave.
He obeyed and decided to say his last prayers as the soldiers corked their guns to shoot. At that point, a Land Rover jeep drove up with other soldiers, among whom was his classmate, Babs Alli.
Alli took him while John Okonya hopped in, in panic.
They had barely driven off when they heard sounds of gunshots, killing all the remaining captives. They soon saw vultures descending on the dead bodies, puncturing the stomachs of the dead while the women who were the only ones not killed sorted out their relatives and buried them.
“Sadly, the most beautiful ladies in Asaba,” according to Chief Sunny ,“took the battle the women’s way.“
“Ifeyinwa Ogbogwu and Mariam Babangida captured army generals became First Ladies and bore children for them.”
Chief Sunny added that, “Nigeria owes the Asaba people reparations for the massacre. Anyone who commits murder pays for it.”