IT all happened on Talabi Street, off Adeniyi Jones Avenue, Ikeja. A Sunday it was, when Christians were busy worshipping God in churches. House 25 where the unprecedented tragedy occured has now given way to a hospital, where doctors save lives. Here 24 years ago, the founding editor-in-chief of Newswatch magazine, Sunmonu Oladele Giwa, better known as Dele Giwa was killed in his prime. He was just 39.
That Sunday morning, the merchants of death gave the deadly parcel to his then 19-year-old son, Billy, who received it on his behalf. The assailants had vanished into thin air when he attempted to open the parcel and a blast occurred ‘’tearing open’’ his lower region. His colleague, Kayode Soyinka who was with him,Newswatch’s London Bureau Chief then suffered perforated eardrums. Giwa died at the First Foundation Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos, where he was rushed to after the explosion.
Before opening the parcel of death, he was said to have remarked: ‘This must be from the president.’ The military president at that time was Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, who is angling to run for president. This decision has, for the past few months, brought to the fore the controversy surrounding the death of Giwa.
Advertorials, cartoons, interviews and other editorial materials have taken sizeable space in the media, querying Babangida’s right to run. Many of these materials linked the death of Giwa to Babangida. But the former military president has repeatedly denied culpability.
Interestingly, the death of Chief Gani Fawehinmi, who was Giwa’s lawyer and the arrowhead of the campaign to hold Babangida liable for the death of the first class journalist has seen his son, Mohammed taking up the gauntlet.
Fawehinmi once got an order to sue two security chiefs-- Col. Halilu Akilu and Lt. Col. A.K. Togun-- who were the director of Military Intelligence and the deputy director, State Security Service under the Babangida military regime. But both officers were exonerated for lack of evidence. He took the case up to the Supreme Court and still lost for lack of evidence. He also tried the Oputa panel. All to no avail.
Today, a book is billed for presentation on the Giwa death saga. Dele Giwa’s Murder: The Answered Question is written by journalist-cum-lawyer, Mr. Richard Akinnola.
Another book on the matter is in the works. It is written by Maj. Debo Basorun (rtd.), who was the military press secretary to Babangida. In a newspaper interview last June, Basorun said he was being hounded because of the book and the facts it contains on who killed Giwa.
In his words: “I was privy to some of the terrible things ... when we were in the army… My problem is 2011. Babangida wants to become president again. I am not saying I am the only person, but I am one of those who know that he is connected to the death of Dele Giwa. That is why they have been trying to kill me.
“I was sent to do a dirty job in America in respect of Dele Giwa’s death. I was sent to cover up what they did. I refused to comply. When I came back, they threw me into jail. Newspapers reported it that time. I protested. The press was on my side then. I was shouting on the roof top that ‘These people want to kill me.’ They decided to send me to a unit in Makurdi, which was a Siberia then. I refused to go. Incidentally, the General Staff Headquarters, which was my unit (and Babangida’s unit too), issued an order that whoever wanted to leave the army should volunteer. It coincided with what was happening to me. So, I volunteered and resigned. I quoted their order in the resignation letter I sent them. But out of those who resigned then, I was the only person whose resignation letter was rejected. I contacted some attorneys. Alao Aka-Basorun was my lawyer.”
Maj. Bashorun went on: “Babangida has assembled a think tank of south-westerners who have warned him of my tell-all book that is about to be launched. They warned him that if I am allowed to launch the book, the expose contained there will totally destroy his chances of even gaining a foothold any where in the South-West.”
But Babangida recently insisted he was being wrongly accused. He said: “For the umpteenth time, I wish to state that I did not murder Dele Giwa. In addition, no agent or agency of government was found guilty of this heinous act by the law courts. I am a man of great faith in God and I believe in the sanctity of life. My discipline as a military commander also does not condone the killing of defenceless innocent people.”
Giwa’s colleagues in Newswtach have also resigned to fate. The Chief Executive Officer, Newswatch Communications, Mr. Ray Ekpu, said it had become a routine for him to talk about Giwa in the last 24 years. He said it brings sad memories. Ekpu said since security agents have failed to find his killers, God will surely do one day.
Next year, it will be 25 years since Giwa, who studied English and Communication Arts at the University of Brooklyn, where he bagged Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees, left. But the legacies of this refined journalist, who had a stint with the prestigious New York Times before he was convinced to return home in 1976, can never be obliterated.
And the question continues: Who killed Dele Giwa? May be an answer will come soon. May be.
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