‘Then it was parcel bomb, now it’s gone haywire’   


The late Fawehinmi and some activists in one of his efforts to call for the prosecution of Giwa’s killers; Babangida, who has refuted allegation he had a hand in the death; The late Fawehinmi and some activists in one of his efforts to call for the prosecution of Giwa’s killers; Babangida, who has refuted allegation he had a hand in the death;

Twenty-five years ago, Jimoh Ibrahim was in his teens . So was Billy Giwa, son of the founding editor-in-chief of Newswatch. Both of them, in their 40s today, are men in every sense of the word. Ibrahim, who was probably tucked in a dingy corner of Igbotako in Ondo State, when Giwa and three friends, Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese and Yakubu Mohammed started Nigeria’s version of Time in 1984, could not have dreamt of taking over the ownership of Newswatch 25 years later.

  Since he took over Newswatch, with Ekpu and co retained on the board, Ibrahim has made changes in the design. It is now more colourful and glossy, preparing to add a daily newspaper version anytime soon.

Time sure changes things. When  on that scary morning 25 years ago, death, wrapped in an envelope, visited House 25, Talabi Crescent, off Talabi Street on Adeniyi Jones Avenue, and sneaked away with Giwa, Nigerians were shocked. Reason: Giwa, who would have been 64 on March 16, was the first Nigerian to have been killed by a parcel bomb.

He was at home having a late breakfast with a colleague, Kayode Soyinka, who later became publisher of now rested London-based Africa Today and former governorship aspirant in Ogun State, when death came. Giwa  did not die immediately. He was rushed to the hospital where he later died.

Amid the rubbles of the television set, louvres, chairs, a table and other domestic appliances, Giwa was quoted as saying, “they‘ve got me!”

Until then, many did not know such a device existed. Then it was parcel bomb, but  today it has gone haywire. Nigerians are hardly shocked when bomb blasts, which are now a daily thing, occur.  No thanks to the Boko Haram Islamic sect, which seems to derive joy from shedding innocent blood.

The sect went berserk recently when it targeted the UN House in Abuja. Before then, it had attacked the Police headquaters in Abuja. The Eagle Square had also felt its ‘fangs.’ News about bomb blasts hardly make the lead pages these days; they are mostly tucked inside. Reason: the frequency of recurrence has rendered them redundant on these pages.

Despite all their troubles, Nigerians have not forgotten that depressing morning of October 19, 1986. Twenty-five years on, they still remember the death of this man, who was born into a poor family working in the palace of the late Oba Adesoji Aderemi, the then Ooni of Ife.

The late Chief Gani Fawehinmi,  Giwa’s lawyer, tried to unravel the mystery. But all those accused, such as the then Deputy Director of the SSS, Colonel Kunle Togun,  then Director of Military Intelligence, Colonel Halilu Akilu, and former military President Ibrahim Babangida have  continued to deny any involement in Giwa’s death.

Giwa lives on, and many remember the lines of that song, which was composed after he died: “In Nigeria, West Africa; there was once a journalist; On the 19 of October, when they killed our journalist. Dele Giwa, Dele Giwa, Dele Giwa you are gone, Dele Giwa, our journalist; We shall never forget you.”


http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/23399-%E2%80%98then-it-was-parcel-bomb%2C-now-it%E2%80%99s-gone-haywire%E2%80%99.html