Likely, people under 40 years in Nigeria do not even know who Dele Giwa was, or what he stood for while he was alive. This is an indicator that we are slowly forgetting our history, it also points to the fact that we do not treasure legacies. It isn’t encouraging that we don’t find monuments that remind us of someone who was considered one of the finest journalists, a man who possessed the qualities of a leader.
Dele Giwa, alongside Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed, and Ray Ekpu founded the Newswatch Magazine in 1984, which redefined investigative journalism. They wrote the mind of the people, regardless of whichever person felt offended. They were men of integrity, fairness, equity, and more importantly, they were professionals. And that is what true journalism represents.
Dele Giwa’s death will never be forgotten by Nigerians, how it was talked about, you’ll think that the killer would have been fished out. It’s been 36 years after and not a single person has been convicted of the murder. In a time, when human rights were discarded by the military, Giwa stood firm and criticized when necessary without selling his soul. He was a brave man who was never afraid of telling the truth when there was nothing like the freedom of speech. He made the government of Babangida stand on its toes, he questioned the government when necessary. There hasn’t been any remarkable change after his death, he will be rolling in his grave to see the current state which we are in. The Nigeria he left behind is even worse than its former state. His death left very many people angry and devasted. It was said that Chief Gani Fawehinmi broke down in tears before Justice Chukwudifu Oputa while narrating how his friend Dele Giwa was gruesomely murdered in 1986.
On October 19th, 1986, Dele Giwa who was working in his study with his friend Chief Kayode Soyinka who was a journalist, received a parcel with a confidential stamp and the Nigerian Coat of Arms, it turned out the parcel was a letter bomb, he was rushed to the hospital where after several attempts to save his life, died.
Our generation should not forget the deeds of Dele Giwa. In an interview with Wale Adebanwi, Chimamanda revealed that in her book “purple hibiscus” she loosely models Ade Coker after Dele Giwa. We must pass what we know to the next generation. A movie about him can even be made, just as we have a movie about “Ayinla” the popular Apala singer. In trying to emulate the deeds of Dele Giwa, May Nigeria not happen to us.
