Dele Giwa: IPC demands justice 40 years after assassination

The International Press Centre, IPC, has demanded answers, accountability and justice over the assassination of Dele Giwa, founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch Magazine, as Nigeria marks 40 years since his death.

In a press statement issued on Monday by Melody Akinjiyan, Press Freedom Officer, the organisation’s Safety and Protection of Journalists, SPJ, Hub called on the Federal Government and relevant authorities to pursue the case and establish accountability for the journalist’s killing.

DAILY POST reports that Dele Giwa was assassinated with a letter bomb on Sunday, October 19, 1986, at his home in Lagos.

The IPC said four decades had passed without anyone being held criminally accountable for the killing, describing the unresolved case as a continuing challenge to justice, accountability and the protection of journalists in Nigeria.

The organisation’s Executive Director, Lanre Arogundade, said Giwa’s assassination went beyond a personal tragedy for his family, friends and professional colleagues.

“It was an attack on the fundamental principle that journalists must be able to investigate, question authority and report in the public interest without fear of violence or intimidation,” Arogundade said.

He stressed that the length of time since the killing should not prevent authorities from seeking answers, urging the relevant institutions to renew efforts towards establishing the truth.

“Forty years without justice is far too long. Silence cannot substitute for accountability, and the passage of time must not become an excuse for abandoning the pursuit of truth,” he stated.

The IPC-SPJ Hub called on the Federal Government, the Nigeria Police Force and relevant investigative and prosecutorial authorities to reopen and pursue a credible, independent investigation into Giwa’s assassination, drawing on available evidence, historical records and previous investigative findings.

It also urged authorities to investigate other unresolved killings of journalists, including Bayo Ohu of The Guardian, murdered in September 2009; Nathan S. Dabak and Sunday Gyang Bwede of The Light Bearer, killed in April 2010; and Zakariya Isa of the Nigerian Television Authority, killed in October 2011.

Other cases listed by the organisation included the killings of, “Enenche Akogwu of Channels Television in January 2012; Maxwell Nashan of the Federal Radio Corporation in January 2020; Alex Ogbu of The Regent Africa Times Magazine in January 2020; Emmanuel Adeyemi of The Sun in October 2020; Titus Badejo of Naija FM in June 2021; and Tordue Salem of Vanguard in November 2021”.

The organisation also called for stronger protection for journalists, emphasising that press freedom was essential to transparency, democratic accountability and the protection of citizens’ rights.

“As we commemorate the 40th anniversary of Dele Giwa’s death, we must resist the temptation to reduce him to an annual remembrance marked by speeches and tributes. His legacy demands action. A country cannot credibly celebrate press freedom while leaving one of its most notorious attacks on a journalist unresolved for four decades,” it said.