Former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida (retd.), has refuted claims of his involvement in the death of veteran journalist and Newswatch Editor-in-Chief, Dele Giwa.
Giwa, a vocal critic of Babangida’s regime, was killed by a parcel bomb at his home in Ikeja, Lagos State, on October 19, 1986.
Prior to the incident, a senior official from the Directorate of Military Intelligence had accused Giwa of illegally importing and stockpiling arms to initiate a socialist revolution in Nigeria.
Disturbed by the accusation, Giwa immediately informed his lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi.
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The next day, Colonel Halilu Akilu, a security official, called Giwa to clarify that the charge was a misunderstanding, assuring him that the issue had been resolved and advising him not to worry.
Ray Ekpu, a colleague of Giwa at Newswatch, recalled that a few hours later, a government representative delivered a parcel to Giwa’s home, which was received by his son, Billy.
Giwa opened the envelope, which was marked “To be opened by addressee only” and bore the seal of the Presidency, while seated at the dining table with Kayode Soyinka, Newswatch’s London correspondent.
However, in his autobiography, *A Journey in Service*, Babangida firmly denied any role in Giwa’s death, expressing his belief that the truth would eventually come to light.
He said, “The hysteria of the media did not help the investigation of the Giwa murder. As is typical of the Nigerian media, the direction was marked by an adversarial attitude towards the government, which had remained the hallmark of the Nigerian media from its colonial heyday.
“It was an attitude of ‘we versus the government’ that has remained today. It is a situation in which the government is adjudged guilty even before the evidence in a case is adduced.
“When the Obasanjo civilian administration reopened the Giwa case at the Oputa Panel on Human and Civil Rights, I expected that the police and lawyers would come forward with new evidence as to their findings on the Giwa murder over the years.
“Nothing of such happened. The Giwa, like all mysterious murders, has remained unsolved after so many years. I keep hoping it will be uncovered in our lifetime or after us. More often than not, mysterious crimes are solved long after their commission.”
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