37 Years After, Analyst Says Dele Giwa Didn't Die From Parcel Bomb, Makes Claim on What Killed Him

• A mystery parcel bomb was believed to have killed a top Nigerian investigative journalist, Dele Giwa in 1986
• Giwa's camp and human rights activists have consistently alleged a state link in the killing, which took place during the rule of General Ibrahim Babangida
• But in a recent interview, Deyemi Saka, a public affairs analyst, said Giwa didn't necessarily die from a parcel bomb

Ikeja, Lagos state - 37 years after the death of Dele Giwa, a public affairs analyst, Deyemi Saka, has refuted claims that the late journalist, died from a letter bomb.

Saka, who spoke on Television Continental, on Thursday, October 19, said if indeed Giwa died from a parcel bomb, his hands would not have been intact.

"Dele Giwa died from an explosion": Analyst

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Saka stated that there is a need for Nigerians to call the eyewitness to give a clear account of what happened before Giwa was killed.

He said:

“Dele Giwa did not die from the explosion of the letter bomb. He held it with his left hand and tore it. It mangled the mahogany table. The right hand that tore the bomb was intact.

“Victims or survivors of parcel bombs always have injuries on their faces or limbs. The death of Giwa wasn’t consistent with this.”

Saka added:

“He died from an explosion, but not necessarily from a parcel bomb. Giwa died of an explosion, but not a letter bomb.”

Dele Giwa's cause of death

The widely-held claim is that Giwa was killed by a parcel bomb in his home at Ikeja, Lagos, while in his study with Kayode Soyinka, on Sunday, October 19, 1986. This was during the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida.

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In a newspaper interview years later in retirement, Chris Omeben who at the time was the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) in charge of the Federal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (FIIB) at Alagbon, recalled that he had done what any decent investigator would have done in unraveling the circumstances surrounding the Giwa's death.

According to him, he had examined the crime scene and found it suspicious that the toilet adjacent to the blast site which Soyinka alleged he was occupying when the explosion occurred had also suffered damage from the blast but Soyinka was left unscathed.

Unresolved assassination cases in Nigeria

In a related article, Legit.ng spotlighted unresolved murder and assassination cases in Nigeria.

In several cases, the killers are yet to be unmasked.

Source: Legit.ng