Exactly 50 years ago today, Saturday, the 7th of October, over a thousand civilians in Asaba, mostly men, were murdered by soldiers of the Nigerian Army. Though on hearing that the war was approaching the town, many indigenes had fled across the Niger, a good number remained because the town was not part of Biafra, not even on the Biafran map. They were Nigerians, many of whom were professionals and civil servants working in Benin before the war.