Thirty-six years after his unresolved gruesome murder, media professionals have called for the immortalisation of the co-founder of Newswatch Magazine, Dele Giwa.
Recall that Giwa was killed by a parcel bomb in his home in Ikeja, Lagos, while in his study with Kayode Soyinka, on Sunday, October 19, 1986, at the age of 39. The assassination occurred two days after he had been interviewed by officials of the State Security Service (SSS).
Two years earlier, in 1984, he and other journalists, Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese and Yabuku Mohammed founded Newswatch magazine, which redefined investigative journalism in Nigeria.
In an exclusive chat with The Guardian yesterday, Media Rights Agenda (MRA) Programmes Director, Ayode Longe, said the journalist should be immortalised, suggesting that the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) house could be named after him.
Similarly, former Publicity Secretary, the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and publisher of Political Economist NG, Ken Ugbechie, said “it is unfortunate that nothing has happened since the murder 36 years ago.”
He said beyond immortalisation, members of the Nigeria Press Organisation, comprising NUJ, Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), NGE and Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) should make a case to the Federal Government to unravel the killing.
The Guardian Newspaper