Many Nigerians who are 37 years, four months and two days old today may not know anything about Dele Giwa, except they are diggers into history or they are children of curiosity.
Dele Giwa was the founding Editor in Chief of Newswatch, who was assassinated by the use of a parcel bomb that was sent to him on Sunday, October 19, 1986.
The parcel bore the inscription “From the Commander in Chief” and since he had received several parcels labelled like that from the then Commander in Chief, General Ibrahim Babangida, he had no hesitation in opening it. As he tried to open it, the parcel exploded and by the time he was rushed to the hospital, he was dead, stone dead.
The London Correspondent of Newswatch who was visiting Nigeria at the time, was having lunch with Dele in his study. The bomb threw him on the floor and he lost his hearing for one year.
We the co-founders of Newswatch, Yakubu Mohammed, Dan Agbese and Ray Ekpu as well as our lawyer, the irrepressible Gani Fawehinmi, did everything we could to bring the suspects who were government officials to justice but we were blocked, harassed and intimidated in several ways. The government also intimidated newspapers that carried in every issue of their newspaper the intimidating cry “Who killed Dele Giwa?”
However, let us tell the story from the beginning. When Newswatch was born in January 1985 it stepped out as the purveyor of investigative journalism, as a truth-telling organ. After Mamman Vatsa and a group of other soldiers were killed in early 1986 for alleged coup plotting, Newswatch was accused of planning to publish the full verdict of the secret military tribunal that tried Vatsa and co. Dele was invited by the military intelligence for what was euphemistically called a ‘chat.’ Nothing happened but an invitation by a military intelligence outfit is a not-so-subtle form of intimidation.
Next, the government accused Newswatch of planning to publish a cover story on the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), an organisation into which President Babangida had controversially dragged Nigeria. Many Nigerians were opposed to the attempt by the government to desecrate the country’s secularity and non-commitment into any partisan religious camp. The Inspector General of police (IGP), Etim Inyang, invited Dele to the police headquarters for a chat, that dangerous four-letter word that is the messenger of danger. I accompanied him. We took a copy of Newswatch that was to be on sale the next day to show the IGP. He read through the cover story on the OIC and found nothing that would affect the country’s interest. No detention. We went home at midnight.
Next, Dele had written a column on the newly created Second-tier Foreign Exchange Market (SFEM). In that article, Dele had said that the ruling class had a responsibility to make SFEM a success, otherwise they would be stoned in the streets.
Dele was invited by the State Security Service (SSS). I accompanied him. When we got there, he was asked to see one Col. A.K. Togun who was the Deputy Director of the SSS. Togun discussed with him and concluded that there was nothing untoward about the article since he had said in the article that he was sure that the President was determined to make SFEM work.
Next, the clincher. On October 16, 1986, three days before his assassination, Dele was invited by the SSS to their headquarters at 15, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi. I accompanied him. When we got there, Dele was ushered into Togun’s office while I waited in the outer office.
When Dele came out there were worry lines on his face. I knew that the handshake had gone beyond the elbow. Dele told me that Togun had peppered him with four allegations. One, that Newswatch was planning what he called the ‘other side’ of the Ukiwe story. Ebitu Ukiwe was the Chief of General Staff to Babangida until he was removed in circumstances that were unclear to the public.
Newswatch had published a cover story titled “Power Games: Ukiwe loses out” in our October 20 issue of the magazine, which was on sale from October 13, 1986. Secondly, Togun alleged that Dele had promised to defend Alozie Ogugbuaja, the police superintendent who was suspended following his testimony before the Akanbi panel probing the students’ riot that took place a few months earlier. Dele was alleged to have promised to give the police officer a job in Newswatch if he was fired.
The third and fourth allegations were more grievous: that Dele was holding discussions with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and students for the purpose of bringing about a socialist revolution and that in pursuance of that goal, he was planning to import arms into the country.
Togun did not substantiate his wild and dangerous allegations because they were all cooked up, they were all lies and lies are not substantiatable. The only truth in the four allegations was the one about Ogugbuaja. Dele and I had spoken on the phone about him. We said that he was a courageous and brilliant journalist and that if the police sacked him, we would be happy to employ him.
Look at it this way, “why would the government bother about who employs someone it didn’t want to continue as its staff.” Since Dele and I discussed this Ogugbuaja matter on the phone, it was clear to us that our NITEL phones were being bugged. NITEL was the only company offering phone services at that time.
I brought a security expert who removed several bugging devices from my residence. We also discovered that we had employed a man who was working for the SSS. He did not disclose this in his curriculum vitae. We had to fire him. This may sound like a horror movie done by an intrepidly creative writer but that was journalism in Nigeria and Nigeria in journalism. That is why several journalists have been needlessly killed over the years for doing their duty.
That weekend of the interrogation, Dele reported the matter to Augustus Aikhomu, Vice President and Prince Tony Momoh, Minister of Information in the presence of other journalists. Momoh dismissed it as a joke and said “They just want to rattle you.” Giwa and I went to report the matter to our lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, after the ‘chat’ with the SSS. He asked Dele to write a report of it for him. Dele did it the same day.
On Saturday, October 18, 1986, someone from the Directorate of Military Intelligence kept calling Dele’s residence but didn’t get to speak to him because Dele was not at home. Eventually, Halilu Akilu, the Director of the Department of Military Intelligence, called Dele’s residence and spoke to Dele’s wife, Funmi. He asked Funmi for the address and description of the area because as he put it “I am not familiar with Ikeja.” Funmi described for him how he could get to the house. Then Funmi asked out of curiosity why Akilu was asking for the home address of her husband. Akilu replied “The ADC has something for him, an invitation or something like that.”
On Sunday, October 19, Dele decided to find out why Akilu was persistently calling his house the day before. Akilu said he called him to tell him that he should not worry about the SSS allegations. Giwa said “I will worry. It is an attempt to ruin my name. I have already written to my lawyer about it.” Akilu replied: “Dele, this is not a matter for lawyers. Don’t bother yourself. The matter is now settled.” Forty minutes later the bomb arrived, wrapped in an envelope with the imprimatur of the Commander in Chief.
Since then, we have fought many battles to get justice for Dele. Fawehinmi asked the Attorney General of Lagos State to prosecute Akilu and Togun. No luck. Fawehinmi got the approval of the Supreme Court to act as a private prosecutor. The security forces harassed him endlessly, sometimes sending helicopters to hover over his office.
Newswatch was proscribed six months after Dele’s death so that we would not continue the pursuit of justice for Dele. We were detained and our accounts and those of the company frozen. We appeared with Fawehinmi at the Oputa Panel set up by the President Olusegun Obasanjo government in 2001.
Babangida, Akilu and Togun got a court injunction to prevent the panel from inviting them to appear at the panel. We, Dele’s colleagues made presentation at the Oputa Panel in Lagos and Abuja. In its report, the panel said “As for the case of Dele Giwa, we are of the view that beyond the legal technicalities that some of the key witnesses clung to, the Federal Government should be encouraged to reopen this case for proper investigation.”
It stated further “On General Ibrahim Babangida we are of the view that there is evidence to suggest that he and the two security chiefs, Brigadier General Halilu Akilu and Col. A.K. Togun, are accountable for the death of Dele Giwa by letter bomb. We recommend that this case be reopened for further investigation in the public interest.”
Since then, nothing has been done by the authorities. Neither the government of President Umaru Yar’Adua nor that of President Goodluck Jonathan nor that of President Muhammadu Buhari had bothered to do anything about the matter. In this matter, all the relevant documents are available: Fawehinmi’s presentation, Newswatch Directors’ submission and the report of the Investigating Police Officer, Abubakar Tsav. None of the past governments looked in the direction of reopening this matter.
Now, another legal entity has reopened the matter in a case brought by the Incorporated Trustees of the Media Rights Agenda. On February 16, 2024, a Federal High Court in Abuja, under Justice Inyang Ekwo, has asked the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) to prosecute and penalise the killers of Dele Giwa because the assassination of Dele violates his right to life under the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.
So it is meet and proper to say that Dele Giwa is dead. Dele Giwa is not dead.
•Written By Ray Ekpu
