Reclaiming Asaba: Old Media, New Media, and the Construction of Memory

Abstract

On October 5, 1967, Nigerian federal troops entered Asaba, a town in south-east Nigeria on the west bank of the Niger. The war over the secession of the predominantly Igbo2 area known as Biafra had broken out in July; by August, the Biafran army had advanced across the Niger, through Asaba and about 120 km beyond. Federal troops mounted a counter-attack, pushing the Biafrans back across the Asaba Bridge, which they blew up behind them.