The recent statement by Richard Akinnola, Executive Director of the Centre for Free Speech Organisation, has once again brought to the forefront the murder of Dele Giwa, the founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch. Akinnola’s scathing criticism of former Military President Ibrahim Babangida’s claims regarding Giwa’s death has exposed a web of deceit and lies that has shrouded the truth for decades.
Akinnola’s statement, titled “Dele Giwa: IBB lied,” pulls no punches in its condemnation of Babangida’s version of events. “I can understand the denial of General Ibrahim Babangida of his innocence over the murder of Dele Giwa. It is expected. Have you seen an armed robbery suspect charged to court pleading guilty in court? It’s a matter of self-preservation,” Akinnola said.
Babangida’s claims, as stated in his book, are riddled with inconsistencies and falsehoods. He alleged that the Obasanjo civilian administration’s reopening of the Giwa case at the Oputa Panel on Human and Civil Rights yielded no new evidence. However, Akinnola countered that Babangida was invited to appear before the Oputa panel but declined, and that Abubakar Tsav, a retired Commissioner of Police, gave evidence that implicated the Babangida government.
Akinnola’s statement also highlighted the deceitful nature of Babangida’s claims of friendship with Giwa. “It is even deceitful to be referring to Dele as your good friend. From where to where? If you could execute your childhood friend, Mamman Vatsa, who then is Dele Giwa, who you only met in the course of his official duties as a journalist? Dele Giwa was not your friend, General,” Akinnola said.
The murder of Dele Giwa remains one of Nigeria’s most enduring unsolved mysteries. As Akinnola’s statement so eloquently puts it, “It’s either those who wrote the book for him didn’t get their facts right or that General Babangida was being mischievous in what he wrote in the book regarding the murder of Dele Giwa.”
The truth behind Giwa’s murder may never be fully known, but one thing is certain: the lies and deceit that have surrounded this case for decades must be exposed and condemned.