Asaba Memorial Oral History Project
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Interviewer
S. Elizabeth Bird; Fraser M. Ottanelli
Publication Date
8-18-2010
Date
2009-12-15
Abstract
Oral history interview with Sylvester Okocha, a survivor of the Asaba Massacre, a mass killing of civilians that occurred in 1967 during the Nigerian Civil War. Okocha had been a civil servant in Benin City; when the war started, he and his family returned to their hometown of Asaba. They heard that the Nigerian soldiers were planning to kill all of the men, so Okocha hid in the bush for a week. When he returned, he started compiling a list of all the people who had been killed. After the war ended, Okocha returned to his job in Benin, where he was suspected of being a Biafran agent. He was arrested, imprisoned in Lagos, and tortured. He was eventually released and went home to Asaba. Okocha's nephew, Emma Okocha, is the author of Blood on the Niger, the primary book about the massacre, which was written using the lists compiled by his uncle.
Keywords
Massacres, Crimes against humanity, Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970)
Extent
00:31:56; 23 page transcript
Subject: geographic
Nigeria; Asaba (Nigeria); Benin City (Nigeria); Lagos (Nigeria)
Language
English
Digital Date
2010
Media Type
Oral histories
Format
Digital Only
Identifier
A34-00019
Recommended Citation
Okocha, Sylvester, "Sylvester Okocha Oral History Interview" (2010). Asaba Memorial Oral History Project. 2.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/asaba/2
Rights Statement
