Dele Giwa’s assassination: More questions than answers

Dele Giwa and I were close friends and colleagues at Concord and Newswatch. At Concord, some colleagues called us Ray Giwa and Dele Ekpu, an attempt to emphasise the closeness of our relationship. And when Dele was badly treated by Chief MKO Abiola, the Sole Proprietor of Concord, I resigned my appointment as the Chairman of the Editorial Board even before Dele did.

And when Dele was assassinated I lost 10 kilogrammes within two weeks and lost my memory for one year. That was how deep the relationship was. But at the 10th anniversary of his assassination we, his colleagues, decided that despite the depth of the loss we needed to forgive those who killed him and move on.



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display('div-gpt-ad-1718806029429-0'); }); However, the former President Ibrahim Babangida has labored to explain in his autobiography, A Journey in Service, why, according to him, the investigation of his assassination was not concluded by his government. But his explanation has produced more questions than answers, while he was trying to defend the officials in his security services who were fingered for the crime.In the book he says: “The insinuation that the parcel may have come from the headquarters of the administration was cheap and foolish.

Why would an officially planned high-level assassination carry an apparent forwarding address of the killer? Why would a government planned and executed crime point directly at the suspect? All this did not make sense to me.” That did not make sense to Babangida but it made sense to other people when we explained that Dele had received letters from President Babangida which had the inscription “From the Office of the C-in-C” and the address was always to “Chief Dele Giwa” although Dele was not a Chief. And written on the parcel was “To be opened by the addressee only.

” I had seen one letter addressed that way when Dele asked me to join him in drafting a speech for Babangida. Dele was angry that General Muhammadu Buhari was in power for 18 months without starting a programme for return to civil rule. So he wanted to draft a speech for Babangida that made a statement on return to democracy.

I joined him to draft the speech. So anyone who sent the parcel bomb must have been familiar with how Babangida’s speeches or letters were dispatched to Dele. And to ensure that the envelope was opened only by the addressee it was important to state so.

That is why Kayode Soyinka who was in the study with him did not seek to open the parcel. That mystery about writing the address of the sender is cleared. In any case, when the parcel exploded what was written was wiped off but Dele’s son Billy saw what was written on the parcel before giving it to his father.

That is point number one.Point number two: When Dele was questioned by Col A. K.

Togun a couple of days before his assassination they asked him four questions. One of the questions was about Alozie Ogugbuaja, a policeman who had a problem with the police authorities. The discussion about Ogugbuaja was on telephone between Dele and me.

In 1986 only the Federal Government controlled telephones in Nigeria. I discovered later that our phones were bugged by the government and had to get a security expert to come and “sweep” our residence. Point number three: After Dele’s assassination Augustus Aikhomu, the number two man in the government addressed the press on the issue but never allowed any questions to be asked on the matter or to be addressed to the suspects.

Why? $(document).ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).

push({})}); Point number four: A day before Dele’s assassination Brigadier Halilu Akilu phoned Dele’s wife Funmi and asked for the address of Dele’s residence. Funmi asked why he wanted the address. Akilu said he intended to stop there and see Dele on his way to Kano.

Did he stop there? No. Did he go to Kano that day? No.Point number five: In July 2001 Abubakar Tsav who investigated the case appeared at Oputa panel in Abuja.

He said that he wanted permission to interrogate both Akilu and Col. A. K.

Togun but he was not allowed to interview or question them. And when he submitted the case file to the DIG in charge of the CID Mr Chris Omeben, he neither got the case file back nor was he allowed to proceed further with the case. The matter was simply closed and he was left hanging in the air.

Point number six: The suspects in the matter went to the High Court in Abuja to stop the Oputa panel from inviting them to appear before the panel. One would have thought that people who were accused of murder would be eager to appear at a duly constituted panel to clear their good names instead of going into hiding through litigation.Point number seven: Our lawyer Chief Gani Fawehinmi went to courts at all levels seeking to be allowed to independently prosecute the accused persons but the authorities devised all kinds of harassment strategies to frustrate him.

Police helicopters were used to intimidate him around his office. Why did they do that if they were not guilty of something? Point number eight: Omeben accused the directors of Newswatch of being the suspects because there was, according to him, a crisis in the Newswatch Communications Limited board. But there was no crisis.

The executive directors, Dele, Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed and Ray Ekpu were all earning the same salary and allowances and each of them was entitled to write a column a week. The external directors were our friends and only invested in the company because they wanted to help us.Point number nine: Mr Omeben also accused Kayode Soyinka of being the accused person since he was in the same room with Dele when the bomb exploded.

How can any sane man stay in a room where he knew that a bomb was likely to explode? Obviously Kayode was not a suicide bomber. He had a family he cared very much for. $(document).

ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({})}); Point number ten: If Omeben and the police thought that Kayode was the accused person why did they not ask Interpol to arrest him in London? Kayode came to campaign in two election cycles in Ogun State for the governorship of the state, why did the police not arrest him?Point number eleven: When I was awarded the International Editor of the Year honour in 1987 in New York, United States, the Babangida government sent some security men to monitor our movements and speeches because they thought we were there to scandalize the government on the Dele Giwa affair.

When one of the officers Major Debo Bashorun thought the government was unfair in the way it was targeting us, they harassed him out of the service.If Babangida thought that Dele’s death was being politicized by those who were opposed to his government’s policies why didn’t he use his friendship with Dele and the novel manner of the assassination as genuine excuses for bringing the matter to a conclusion? His excuse is untenable, unviable and unacceptable.The post Dele Giwa’s assassination: More questions than answers appeared first on The Sun Nigeria.

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