Twenty three years after the murder of the former Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine, Mr. Dele Giwa, his lawyers have called for the re-opening of the case.
They gave the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, a week ultimatum to prosecute former Military President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida and others for their alleged complicity in the incident.
The late Giwa was killed through a letter-bomb on October 19, 1986.
Addressing reporters yesterday, the Head of the Gani Fawehinmi Chambers, Mr. Mohammed Fawehinmi, said Gen. Babangida is liable given the circumstances in which Giwa was killed.
He urged Onovo to prosecute him since he (Gen. Babangida) no longer enjoys immunity.
Others to be prosecuted, according to him, include the former Director of Military Intelligence (DMI), Colonel Halilu Akilu, Deputy Director of State Security Service (SSS), Lt.-Col. A. K. Togun and Gloria Okon.
Said Fawehinmi: "Since the Constitution empowers him and Section 4 of the Police Act 2004 empowers him to arrest, prosecute anyone found guilty of law, it is the duty of Onovo to prosecute former president Ibrahim Babangida, former Director of Military Intelligence (DMI), Colonel Halilu Akilu, Deputy Director of State Security Service (SSS), Lt.-Col. A. K. Togun and Gloria Okon since they are all alive and the law respects nobody. Ogbonna should do his job as expected of him."
Fawehinmi urged the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Michael Andoakaa, and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to rise up to Giwa’s murder and other long list of unresolved killings.
"I want to assure those that killed Dele Giwa that the death of my father will not be the end of the fight to prosecute those that assassinated Dele Giwa. We are giving the Inspector-General of Police a week to respond to issue raised in the press conference," Fawehinmi said.
At another forum yesterday, family, friends and rights activists relived Giwa’s death, lamenting that his killers were yet to be found 23 years after.
They spoke at a "Night of Conversation" held in Giwa’s memory at the Eko FM, Ikeja, Lagos.
In attendance were Giwa’s mother, Madam Elekhia; sister, Mrs Ronke Aboaba; Afenifere chieftains Wale Oshun; Yinka Odumakin and Bisi Adegbuyi, Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Ethiopia Chief Segun Olusola, Campaign for Democracy (CD) president Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, Mr. Festus Keyamo and Dr. Tunji Abayomi, among others.
Giwa’s mother and sister lamented that the family had been abandoned by the late journalist’s friends, saying: "things have not been easy for us".
Oshun, Odumakin, Keyamo and Abayomi regretted the unresolved murders in the country,saying: "It is a shame that our nationals could be killed without their killers being found".
They noted that since Giwa, other journalists – Godwin Agbroko and Abayomi Ogundeji of Thisday and Bayo Ohu of The Guardian - had been killed without the killers being found.
In Benin, the Edo State capital, Nigerians were advised to fight corruption in spite of Giwa’s murder.
Delivering a lecture at the first Dele Giwa Memorial lecture series organised by the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in conjunction with Estako West Local Government Area, Mr. Osaheni Uzamere, a lawyer, noted that in the face of a bleak and uncertain future that faces Nigeria, the responsibility of the press is to continue to expose corruption as failure to do so would be detrimental.
Uzamere, who spoke on "Journalism, Law and Power in Nigeria: The Dele Giwa Phenomenon", said: "Dele Giwa would not brook any obstruction along his journalistic path. He believed in published and be damned. He more or less introduced investigative journalism into Nigeria. The irony of Dele Giwa’s case is that he had not reached the point where he would tell the truth even though he was inching towards it when he was brutally cut down.
"The murder of Dele Giwa marked a watershed in the history of Nigerian journalism.Never before had such a dastardly sophisticated means been employed to silence an inquisitive journalist. There was no iota of doubt that Dele Giwa was killed because he vowed that his young Newswatch magazine would exercise its freedom, albeit of the Press."
The Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government Area, Ogun State, has admonished journalists to continue to uphold the practice of developmental journalism, against all odds.
In a statement issued in Philadelphia, USA, Oladunjoye, a journalist, noted that it is shamefully embarrassing that the Giwa riddle remain unresolved.
Rather, we have witness other cases like Abayomi Ogundeji, and the most recent, which is Bayo Ohu’s of The Guardian.
His words: "Nigerian journalists are today’s endangered species.What with low and unsecured jobs, restricted access to public information, ownership censor, political manipulation and very weak unionism, and race for survival."
Recalling the efforts of journalists in the struggle for Nigeria’s independence and the pro-democracy battle, Oladunjoye said no one has a higher stake to the nation’s socio-cultural and economic advancement.
Oladunjoye expressed frustration at what he called the vainglorious assurances from members of the National Assembly on the Freedom of Information Bill (FOI).
"It is unbelievable that the FOI bill has taken so many years and it is still yet to be passed.
"We are tired of these empty promises from our lawmakers, who mouth support for FOI bill with little or action.
"Nigerian journalists should continue to raise their heads high because anywhere in the world today, the journalism profession remains honourable, enviable and very humane even in the face of daunting global economic realities. That is how to ensure that Dele Giwa did not die in vain," Oladunjoye said.
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