Ibusa’s Overlooked Story of Survival During the Nigerian Civil War

Research for a book on Ibusa during the Nigerian Civil War drew on interviews with surviving veterans, eyewitnesses and other residents whose lives were shaped by the conflict. The aim was to preserve firsthand accounts before they are lost and to document the community’s wartime experience. The testimonies describe Ibusa as a significant theatre of the war, marked by displacement, hunger, disease, fear and survival in forest camps. Some potential interviewees remained too afraid to speak decades after the conflict, highlighting the enduring trauma left behind. Unlike the widely documented Asaba Massacre, Ibusa’s suffering did not occur in one defining incident. Its prolonged hardship has therefore received less attention in scholarship and public memory. The research seeks to place Ibusa’s experiences alongside those of other communities devastated by the war.

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