Killers of versatile journalist and founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch, OladeleGiwawho was gruesomely murdered by a mail bomb, in his residence on 25, Talabi Street, off Adeniyi Jones Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos remain unknown exactly 35 years ago today.
Dele Giwa as he was popularly called, met his sudden death on Sunday, October 19, 1986, at his residence 25 Talabi Street, which has now given way to a hospital. He was killed at age 39.
That black Sunday morning, the messengers of death gave the parcel to his then 19-year-old son, Billy, who received it on his behalf but the assailants had left immediately when Giwa attempted to open the parcel and a serious blast occurred “tearing open’’ his lower region.
His colleague, Newswatch’s London Bureau Chief, Kayode Soyinka, who was with him at the time of the tragic incident, also suffered perforated eardrums.
But Giwa later died at the First Foundation Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos, where he was rushed to after the massexplosion.
He was born on March 16, 1947 to a humble family working in the palace of ObaAdesojiAderemi, the Ooni of Ife,
He attended local Authority Modern School in Lagere, Ile-lfe.
When his father moved to Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife as a laundry man, the young Dele gained admission to that school.
He travelled to the USA for his higher education, bagging a BA in English and Communication Arts from Brooklyn College in 1977 and enrolled for a Graduate program at Fordham University.
He worked with the New York Times as a news assistant for four years after which he relocated to Nigeria to work with Daily Times.
Later, in 1984, Giwa and fellow journalists Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese and Yakubu Mohammed founded Newswatch and the first edition was distributed on 28 January 1985.
A 1989 description of the magazine said it “changed the format of print journalism in Nigeria [and] introduced bold, investigative formats to news reporting.
Sadly, over three decades after his murder,Giwa’s killers have not been unmasked despite a vigorous battle in court by his lawyer, Chief GaniFawehinmi SAN, now of blessed memory, to fish out the murderers.
