Falana, NUJ, others task Buhari on Dele Giwa’s murder

Demand posthumous honour

As the late renowned journalist, Dele Giwa was being remembered yesterday, the Federal Government was charged to begin a fresh probe to unravel his killers.

Family, friends and colleagues at a colloquium to mark the 30th anniversary of his death, at the Multipurpose Hall, Radio/Eko FM, Ikeja, Lagos, also urged government to honour him with a national posthumous award.

Present at the event were Dele Giwa’s widow, Funmilayo, his daughter, Aishat, who was two-year-old at the time of the murder, and others.

A colleague of the late journalist at Newswatch Magazine, Ray Ekpu said the perpetrators thought Giwa’s assassination would quickly be forgotten. He added that based on the recommendations of the Justice Chukwudifu Oputa’s panel and the recent pronouncement of President Muhammadu Buhari, the investigation should be re-opened.

According to him: “The perpetrators thought that the act would quickly be forgotten. Though it was quickly done, it cannot be quickly forgotten. Not many people died the way Dele Giwa died and not many who died are remembered like him.”

Lawyer and rights activist, Femi Falana (SAN) in a lecture titled “Safety of journalists and the culture of impunity in Africa,” noted that the continent has witnessed rising cases of murder of journalists. He accused the police of closing investigation into Dele Giwa’s murder.

Falana, represented by the President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Malachy Ugwummadu, said since President Buhari has ordered the re-opening of pending murder cases across the country, the NUJ should collaborate with the police to unravel Giwa’s murderers.

The chairman of the occasion, Sani Zorro, lamented that journalists in the country are being ignored, with poor renumeration by their employers.

He said a national posthumous honour should be given to Giwa and Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola to give them the status of a national hero.

The Chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Deji Gbolahan Elumoye regretted that 30 years after the incident, no one has been arrested for the murder.