KWENU: Our Culture, Our Future

Dele Giwa: The silent fact

Max Gbanite 
New Jersey, USA

Thursday, November 1, 2001

Since 1986, all sorts of tales have emerged regarding the real killers of the charismatic founder of Newswatch magazine, Mr. Dele Giwa, when a bomb exploded in his premises killing him. The likes of for Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, SAN, have pointed fingers to the then Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd.), and his security chiefs Brigadier Halilu Akilu, and Colonel Tapgun (both retired) of having a hand in the killing.

Chief Gani Fawehinmi went to court, got an order to sue the security chiefs. The case was tried in a Lagos high court, and both officers were exonerated for lack of evidence. Gani Fawehinmi went to both the court of appeals and the Supreme Court and lost. Civilization of legality would suggest that the case be closed, except if new evidence linking these gentlemen is found at a later date. But Gani Fawehinmi would not have it that way. Instead he went to the Oputa Panel, the current Human Rights abuse circus going on in the country.

I was privileged to attend some of the hearings both in Lagos and in Abuja, where Gani was compelling the Chairman of the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission (HRVIC), Justice Chukwudifu Oputa (rtd.), to order General Ibrahim Babangida to appear before the Panel to answer questions on the death of Dele Giwa. I am not a lawyer by profession, but at least the common sense of law suggests that there must be new evidence to warrant such orders. In this case, there was none. However, before the seating of the tribunal both in Lagos and in Abuja, rented thugs have already swooped into the premises and distributed a horrible picture of the deceased, with imprints suggesting that Akilu and Tapgun killed him on the orders of General Babangida. They had already polluted the minds of everyone that the same rented crowd would have lynched any one who thought otherwise.

I would not have written this piece if I had not read a book in Nigeria, a biography of a sort, published by Rev. Dr. Christopher Omeden (former Deputy Inspector General of the Nigerian Police during the era of Giwa's death). This is a man of impeccable character, a man that can never be bought or corrupted as testified by his colleagues. In his book, he postulated some salient but silent facts that need to be answered. The supporters of Gani Fawehinmi's theory of supposed killers have not addressed these facts.

Rev. Omeden stated that he took charge of the investigation. That he actually was waiting for pressure to come from above (meaning the office of the presidency) to stall the case, but none came. He summoned the then security chiefs for questioning. Both Akilu, and Tapgun (then colonels) made the appointments and answered all the questions posed by police investigators. The interrogations lasted for days, and both military officers cooperated with the investigating police officers. The reverend stated gentleman in the book that he was very surprised to learn that the only witness to the explosion, Mr. Kayode Soyinka, had been smuggled out of Nigeria before the Police could even get to ask him questions regarding the explosion. The word 'smuggled' must be emphasized because no immigration records showed that Kayode Soyinka left the shores of Nigeria legally. However, a month later he was sited in London.

In an interview of Mr. Ray Ekpu in African Abroad, dated October 31, 2001, Mr. Ekpu was asked the following question:

"Some people in their mischief had pointed out to Kayode Soyinka as being privy to the whole sordid mess. They wonder how he could be in that room and yet escape unhurt."

Ray Ekpu replied; " I don't believe that story. I think they're just trying to malign the young man for nothing. They're just trying to find a scapegoat, to draw wool over people's eyes and they must not be allowed to succeed. Why must someone who knows that a bomb is going to explode in a room stay there? You would have to be insane to do that because there is no way you can determine how far the bomb would go. And Kayode was in the room when the bomb exploded. He was felled by the bomb's impact and was treated here for perforated ear and after a month he went back to England where he was also treated."

Ray Ekpu further described how the bomb exploded; "Like you saw, yourself, the parcel bomb that was suspected to have killed Giwa blew off a whole cement wall, bent metal rods on the windowpane and reduced his typewriter to scrap. If the bomb was actually on his lap, how come it didn't blow him to pieces? How come his hands were said to hold the bomb on his lap didn't go apart rather the bomb battered his lap? An exploding bomb is a centrifugal force, isn't it? How come it acted selectively, downwards, to get the lap rather than in all directions to get the rest of the body? Well I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know the intricacies of er…"

The reporter asked again: "Don't you think that the real bomb was planted there earlier and its point of closest impact was the wall which it actually took off, suggestive of inside collaboration in planting it?"

Mr. Ekpu replied, "Kayode was there and actually saw the envelope, he saw it explode so I don't think it was something planted there before then. No, I don't think so. Em.. you see, he was sitting there, but Kayode was eating. I wasn't there, but Kayode explained it. He placed it on his thighs and was trying to open it because both of them were still eating and then, the thing exploded."

Please, I am not an expert on explosives and the ways they explode. However, as a child soldier during the Nigeria-Biafra War, I witnessed many mortar, grenade, artillery, and mine explosions, and their effects on people. I at least know that you cannot see a bomb explode in your very eyes, while sitting within feet from it, and receive only a perforated ear shock to show for it. As a matter of fact it is the same curiosity that has engulfed Reverend Omeden. For instance he could not understand how a bomb explosion as described by Ray Ekpu as being centrifugal, blasting a wall, damaging metal rods on a windowpane, and by Omeden's own investigation damaged the door to the bathroom, and broke the mirror in the bathroom, and yet only caused Mr. Kayode such a minimal harm as a perforated ear or what may be called shock.

The same Kayode in his first statement to the Police officers that were at the scene gave a conflicting account of his position that is very different from that of Ray Ekpu. Mr. Kayode according to reports filled in Omeden's book stated that after the letter was delivered, he got up to use the bathroom, and as he was entering the bathroom the bomb exploded. This same bomb blew open the same bathroom door, and shattered the mirror on the bathroom wall without scratching Mr. Kayode. Very baffling, indeed! Mr. Kayode was also said to have claimed to run out to get help and to make sure that Giwa got to the hospital on time. Believe me this cannot be the reasoning of a man in shock from a bomb blast. The case is usually that of disorientation. But in this case, Mr. Kayode seems to have his reasoning faculty intact.

Rev. Omeden being the Deputy Inspector General of Police then, and the man who cracked the Lawrence Aninih's case in Benin City, was in control of the investigations of the bomb blast. He exhibited the same concern when he came to the scene of the blast. In his book, he said that it is almost impossible for anyone who was within ten feet of the bomb to be spared. Now if according to Kayode Soyinka that he was about to enter the bathroom, and then, according to Ray Ekpu's interview that Kayode was sitting there eating, while Dele Giwa was opening the parcel, how come Kayode received only a shock, or hearing impairment. The Police detectives, when diluting all the information received, tried to sort out some conflicting statements made by Kayode Soyinka but could not find him in the hospital or any where in Lagos; instead, they learnt that he has landed in London. Yet evidence of his departure is yet to be found.

When I was a student of criminology in New York, two of my professors, Dr. Patrick Murphy (former New York City Police Commissioner), and Dr. Lee Brown (current Mayor of Houston), in explaining the different techniques of homicide investigations, stated that all possible evidence must be examined, all close associates including family members and friends of the deceased must be interrogated for possible evidence and elimination of non facts before the investigators can actually begin to narrow down their lists of suspects. Well, up till today, the close associates of Giwa who feel very sad and devastated of his demise are yet to come forward to be interviewed or interrogated by the police.

Reverend Omeden is still mystified that all the concerned friends and business associates like Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese, and Yakubu Mohammed have not subjected themselves for clearance. After all, they have something at stake in this whole saga. Dele Giwa was their friend and business associate. It was rumored that they have a reason to be jealous of the Giwa's style of flamboyancy. The other theory espoused by insiders within Giwa's circle is that Kayode Soyinka may have been the courier of a planted bomb, and the parcel was a sign for him to take refuge before the explosion consumed him. If the bomb were contained in the letter, as the likes of Gani would want us to believe, the damage then would not have been as cataclysmic as was discovered, according to bomb experts.

The killers of this wonderful and very talented writer are still out there, but I am very doubtful if they are Akilu, and Tapgun under the leadership of General Babangida. He, General Babangida, had nothing to gain by having Dele Giwa killed. As a matter of records, the only people killed during his leadership were convicted coup plotters. If the regime felt that Giwa was a threat, they could have easily jailed him, and kept him in jail for the duration of their time in office. However, killing him in my opinion was not in their style of operation.

Gani Fawehinmi must allow his clients, Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed, and many other close associates, most especially Mr. Kayode Soyinka, to be interrogated by the Police for additional information that may lead to the actual solving of this heinous crime. As for his recent ranting at the Oputa Panel, I think it may be considered a slap on the judiciary that has already tried the case against Akilu and Tapgun and found both men to be innocent of the crime. Let's move on to the next page of our history. Perhaps, we may even bring those that started the civil war that killed over 1 million people to book. And, while at it, we might as well prosecute the murderers of the General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi; they are still walking in the corridors of power today.

A. U. Max Gbanite is a US-based Business and Security Consultant