Forty years after the assassination of veteran journalist Dele Giwa, the Media Rights Agenda (MRA) and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) have renewed calls for justice, accountability and stronger protection for journalists in Nigeria.
While MRA urged the Federal Government to comply with a court order directing an investigation into Giwa’s murder, the NBA called for renewed commitment to freedom of expression and the safety of media professionals.
The demands came on Monday, 19 October 2026, as journalists, family members and prominent figures in the media industry gathered at the Kensington Adebutu Media Centre of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism in Lagos for the launch of Dele Giwa’s Granite Journalism, a publication commemorating the late journalist.
Giwa, the founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine, was 39 when he died on 19 October 1986 after a parcel bomb exploded at his residence in Ikeja, Lagos. His assassination during the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida remains unresolved.
The anniversary event also featured emotional recollections from the doctor who treated Giwa after the bombing and a former colleague who recalled how the killing changed his young son’s ambition to become a journalist.
Doctor Recalls Giwa’s Final Moments
A medical doctor, Dotun Adedeji, who attended to Giwa after the explosion, recalled how the journalist remained conscious despite suffering devastating injuries.
Adedeji said a bus conveying Giwa arrived at First Foundation Medical Centre in Opebi, Ikeja, at about 12.30 pm, when he was the doctor on duty.
“I saw people running, saying, ‘they brought Dele Giwa’,” he recalled.
He said Giwa was rushed into the emergency room, where the injuries he observed were unlike anything he had encountered throughout his medical practice.
“What I saw, I have never seen again since in my practice. He was shattered. His two limbs were open, and he was bleeding,” Adedeji said.
Despite the severity of his injuries, Giwa remained able to speak and asked the doctor whether he would survive.
“But he was still talking. He said, ‘Dotun, se mi o ni ku sha? (I hope I will not die?)’ I said, ‘I don’t know’,” Adedeji recounted.
He said Giwa died at about 1 pm, adding that the injuries were so severe that survival would have been unlikely to offer any meaningful recovery.
Adedeji also disclosed that Giwa’s blood-stained clothes and shoes remained in a corner of his room for five years as a reminder of the journalist, whom he considered a brother.
“He was not just my patient. He was like a brother. He treated me like a brother,” he said.
The doctor further recalled that Giwa repeatedly asked about his wife, Funmi, and their daughter, Aisha, who was about a year old when the bombing occurred.
“How is Aisha? Do you know anything about Aisha?” Adedeji quoted the journalist as asking.
Giwa had been at home with Kayode Soyinka, the London Bureau Chief of Newswatch, who narrowly escaped the explosion after leaving to use the restroom.
‘I Don’t Want to Be Killed Like Uncle Dele’
The anniversary gathering also heard how Giwa’s assassination affected the family of Ray Ekpu, a close associate of the late journalist and editor of the commemorative book.
Ekpu recalled that his five-year-old son had wanted to become a journalist like him and Giwa because their families lived close to each other.
However, the boy abandoned the ambition after witnessing the aftermath of Giwa’s killing.
Ekpu said his son told him: “I don’t want to be a journalist again. I don’t want to be killed like Uncle Dele.”
The recollection highlighted the wider impact of violence against journalists, particularly the fear such incidents can create among aspiring media professionals and their families.
Ekpu called for stronger protection for journalists, lamenting what he described as insufficient efforts to safeguard their lives and rights.
“The truth must be told by us, and journalists must be protected. There are no serious efforts in protecting the rights and lives of journalists, and it is sad,” he said.
He added: “Whoever said that the pen is mightier than the sword does not have Nigeria in mind.”
Former Ogun State governor and veteran journalist Segun Osoba also recalled that Giwa had expressed fears for his safety shortly before his death.
Osoba said he had been with Giwa and former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, Kehinde Adeosun, the day before the assassination, when Giwa complained that people were pursuing him.
“Dele Giwa had complained to all of us that they were after him. We went to visit Aikhomu and told him about this threat, and he said he would do something about it,” Osoba recalled.
He said he received a telephone call about 18 hours later informing him that Giwa had been attacked.
“Eighteen hours later, I was woken up with a phone call that Dele Giwa was attacked,” he said.
Osoba described Giwa as an exceptional journalist and urged practitioners to remain committed to their profession.
The anniversary also featured tributes from prominent media figures, including TheCable publisher Simon Kolawole, Vanguard publisher Sam Amuka-Pemu, advertising executive Biodun Shobanjo, Professor Ralph Akinfeleye and Nosa Igiebor.
Reviewing Dele Giwa’s Granite Journalism, Kolawole said the book contained 45 pieces written by Giwa and 16 contributions from other writers. He described the late journalist’s writing as lucid, playful and provocative.
Amuka-Pemu said Giwa had transformed the Nigerian media landscape, adding that his contributions to Daily Times, Sunday Concord and Newswatch remained memorable.
Giwa’s widow, Funmi, and daughter, Aisha, attended the event. Aisha, who was about a year old when her father died, said she barely knew him but was moved by the tributes and accounts of his life and work.
NBA Calls for Stronger Protection of Journalists
The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, called for stronger protection for journalists and renewed commitment to freedom of expression.
In a statement issued on Monday to mark the anniversary, she said the passage of time should not diminish the value placed on human life or weaken the resolve to uphold fundamental freedoms.
“The passage of time must never diminish the value we place on a human life or our resolve to uphold these principles,” she said.
Badejo-Okusanya noted that lawyers and journalists shared a responsibility to question the exercise of power and amplify the voices of people who might otherwise go unheard.
“Our professions serve the public best when we discharge that responsibility with courage, integrity and care,” she said.
She described Giwa’s death as a loss not only to his family but also to the journalism profession and the country, urging Nigerians to reflect on the courage required to ask difficult questions and the need to protect those who do so.
“As we honour his memory, we reaffirm our commitment to freedom of expression and the dignity and safety of those who inform our society,” she said.
MRA Demands Compliance With Court Order
Meanwhile, Media Rights Agenda has called on the Federal Government to comply with a court order directing it to investigate Giwa’s assassination and prosecute those responsible where the evidence and applicable laws permit.
In a statement issued on Monday, MRA’s Deputy Executive Director, Ayode Longe, said the continued failure to resolve the case reflected what the organisation described as a persistent culture of impunity for attacks against journalists.
Longe recalled that the Federal High Court in Abuja, on 16 February 2024, ruled in a suit filed by MRA against the Attorney-General of the Federation, directing the government to investigate Giwa’s murder and other unresolved killings of journalists and ensure the prosecution of those responsible.
He said the government had yet to demonstrate meaningful progress or provide details of concrete steps taken to establish the circumstances of the assassination and identify those responsible.
Longe described the alleged failure to implement the judgment as “a contemptuous disregard for a valid and subsisting judicial order”.
The organisation urged the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Nigeria Police Force and other relevant authorities to provide a clear account of their efforts to comply with the directive.
It specifically called for information on the status of the investigation, the steps already taken and plans to prosecute those responsible where sufficient evidence exists.
MRA also urged the authorities to revisit historical investigation files, witness accounts, documentary evidence and previous investigative findings that could help establish the circumstances surrounding Giwa’s death.
It called for the use of modern forensic and investigative techniques where appropriate and feasible, arguing that the passage of four decades did not extinguish the state’s responsibility to investigate an unlawful killing.
“The failure to hold anyone accountable for such a high-profile killing of a journalist as prominent as Dele Giwa sends a wrong signal to those who are inclined to attack journalists as a result of their work that they can do so without negative consequences,” Longe said.
The organisation added that resolving Giwa’s case was part of broader efforts to secure accountability for journalists killed in Nigeria and to strengthen protection for media professionals facing threats and attacks.
“As Nigeria marks four decades since his assassination, the most fitting tribute to Dele Giwa would be demonstrable progress towards justice for him and his family, stronger guarantees for the safety of journalists, and a national commitment to ending impunity for crimes against journalists and other media professionals,” Longe said.
Giwa’s assassination occurred two days after he was questioned by officials of the then-State Security Service on 16 October 1986. He had written about the Second-Tier Foreign Exchange Market, a Central Bank of Nigeria policy introduced to determine exchange rates and allocate foreign exchange through market forces.
Around the same period, Halilu Akilu of the then-Directorate of Military Intelligence reportedly questioned Giwa over an allegation that he had discussed arms importation with some individuals.
The circumstances surrounding the parcel bomb attack and the identities of those responsible have remained subjects of public concern for four decades.
The renewed calls by the NBA and MRA have brought the unresolved murder back into focus, with both organisations insisting that honouring Giwa’s legacy requires more than annual tributes and that accountability and the protection of journalists must remain national priorities.
