Dele Giwa: 37 Years After The Gruesome Murder Of This Celebrated Journalist

 By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye 

“Death is…the absence of presence…the endless time of never coming back…a gap you can’t see, and when the wind blows through it, it makes no sound” – Tom Stopard    

In the morning of Monday, October 20, 1986, I was preparing to go to work when a major item on the Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) 6.30 news bulletin hit me like a hard object. Mr. Dele Giwa, the founding editor-in-chief of ‘Newswatch’ magazine, had the previous day been killed and shattered by a letter bomb in his Lagos home. My scream was so loud that my colleague barged into my room to inquire what it was that could have made me to let out such an ear-splitting bellow. 

*Dele Giwa 

We were three young men who had a couple of months earlier been posted from Enugu to Abakaliki to work in the old Anambra State public service, and we had hired a flat in a newly erected two-storey building at the end of Water Works Road, which we shared. My flat-mate, clearly, was not familiar with Giwa’s name and work, and so had wondered why his death could elicit such a reaction from me. 

Dele Giwa’s Assassination: 35 Years After

 By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye 

“Death is…the absence of presence…the endless time of never coming back…a gap you can’t see, and when the wind blows through it, it makes no sound” – Tom Stopard    

In the morning of Monday, October 20, 1986, I was preparing to go to work when a major item on the Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) 6.30 news bulletin hit me like a hard object. Mr. Dele Giwa, the founding editor-in-chief of ‘Newswatch’ magazine, had the previous day been killed and shattered by a letter bomb in his Lagos home. My scream was so loud that my colleague barged into my room to inquire what it was that could have made me to let out such an ear-splitting bellow. 

*Giwa

We were three young men who had a couple of months earlier been posted from Enugu to Abakaliki to work in the old Anambra State public service, and we had hired a flat in a newly erected two-storey building at the end of Water Works Road, which we shared. My flat-mate, clearly, was not familiar with Giwa’s name and work, and so had wondered why his death could elicit such a reaction from me. 

But later that day, as he interacted with people, he realised that Giwa’s death was such big news, and by the next couple of days, he had become an expert on Giwa and his truncated life and career. Across the country, Giwa’s brutal death dominated the news not just because of the pride of place he occupied in Nigerian journalism practice, but more because of the totally novel way his killers had chosen to end his life.   

Nigeria: How Not To Gag The Media

 By Dan Amor

It is a sad story to tell but telling it we must. Before the advent of the present "democratic" dispensation, Nigeria was literally run by buccaneers who plundered the nation’s till into private use and built empires over the painful anxieties of the oppressed people. Upon assumption of office, the present crop of leaders (since 1999 till date) promised to make Nigerians put the pains of the past behind them as they were poised to embark on massive people-oriented programmes. 

Consequently, therefore, Nigerians who had long been living in penury and deprivation felt that the only option left to them was to hope for better days ahead. This is more so as the beauty of any government is its ability to bring together human and material resources and use them for the uplift of society. It would be recalled that during those dark days in our nation’s annals when the military usurped the polity to breaking point, the Nigerian media stood firmly on the side of the people. 

Dele Giwa: Lingering Echoes Of A Murder

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

 “Death is…the absence of presence…the endless time of never coming back…a gap you can’t see, and when the wind blows through it, it makes no sound”.    – Tom Stopard, German playwright. 

*Giwa 

 

In the morning of Monday, October 20, 1986, I was preparing to go to work when a major item on the Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) 6.30 news bulletin hit me like a hard object. Mr. Dele Giwa, the founding editor-in-chief of Newswatch magazine, had the previous day been killed and shattered by a letter bomb in his Lagos home. My scream was so loud that my neighbour barged into my room to inquire what it was that could have made me to let out such an ear-splitting bellow. 

We were three young men who had a couple of months earlier been posted from Enugu to Abakaliki to work in the old Anambra State public service, and we had hired a flat in a newly erected two-storey building at the end of Water Works Road, which we shared. My flat-mate, clearly, was not familiar with Giwa’s name and work, and so had wondered why his death could elicit such a reaction from me. But later that day, as he interacted with people, he realised that Giwa’s death was such big news, and by the next couple of days, he had become an expert on Giwa and his truncated life and career. Across the country, Giwa’s brutal death dominated the news not just because of the pride of place he occupied in Nigerian journalism practice and but more because of the totally novel way his killers had chosen to end his life.

Dele Giwa: Lingering Echoes Of A Murder

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

“Now, I think no riches can compare with being alive…”

–      Achilles, Homer’s Iliad.

“One life taken in cold blood is as gruesome as millions lost in a pogrom.” – Dele Giwa

*Dele Giwa 

Death is one appointment which every being must keep. And as we know, appointments can either be brought forward or moved to a later date or cancelled altogether. In the matter of life and death, any changes in appointment schedules should be the exclusive prerogative of the Creator. No man, therefore, has any right to arrogate to himself the role of bringing forward any other person’s appointment with death. In fact, it is abominable to even use one’s hands to hasten one’s own appointment with death. Laws of God and man hold such actions highly condemnable. So, suicide bombers and their sponsors, supporters and cheer-leaders should, therefore, get it into their heads that they have no mandate whatsoever from the Creator of man to either take their own lives or that of another, no matter the beliefs that fire their unholy zeal and action.

Death, however, is unavoidable, though loathsome. There is hardly anyone that wishes to die. Not even the most valiant of men would embrace death so willingly. Even those people who had been compelled by very harsh, unbearable circumstances to wish for death have had to shudder, cringe and shrink back when the icy hands of death sought to grip their throats. Deep down the heart of every man and every woman, and beyond the facade of all apparent fearlessness and bravery, lie this cold loathing and resentment for death. The survival instinct is there and also the desire to avoid danger and death, and the longing to postpone one’s date with death, temporarily at least, if not forever, hence the struggle and fight at many a deathbeds.

Newswatch: Sad End To ‘A Way Of Life’!

By Abdulrazaq Magaj

My first major assignment for Newswatch, once Africa’s most cited and best known news magazine, was to do preliminary work ahead of the 50th anniversary of the golden rule of late Sultan Abubakar Siddiq III. It was one assignment that took me to many parts of the north to talk to people who had one opinion or the other to express about Sultan Abubakar Siddiq and the Sokoto caliphate.

In line with Newswatch house-styles, the Editor-In-Chief did a short take on me in the Editorial Suite, a half page reserved for the EIC or, in his absence, one of his lieutenants to whet the appetite of readers. After commending me for what he said was a good outing, Ray Ekpu took one long look at me and asked whether I was surprised at my being signed on by Newswatch.

‘No, sir!’ I blurted.

‘Our Ray of hope’, as many called Ray Ekpu, Newswatch’s EIC, must have been pleasantly surprised by my candour

Prior to Newswatch, I had actually done some rudimentary writings for some local and international publications in my undergraduate days in Zaria. The trend continued during my days as a lecturer in Contemporary World History. Though I was not a rookie in the real sense of the word, Newswatch, for very obvious reasons, proved to be a different ball-game!

My midday encounter with Ray was a replay of a similar one on the day I encountered the three musketeers who interviewed me for the job 30 years ago. At issue was how I was eased out of my former job, an account which provoked a general laugh. Was it the laughable reasons given for my being eased out? Or was it the way it was narrated? What struck me most was the conviviality that surrounded the interview session. It was great to feel these Newswatch greats were not spooks, after all!

I had actually applied for an advertised position of deputy editor of Quality magazine, a soft-sell in the Newswatch group. But I guess the trio was impressed by my humble credentials. I had a job, I was told, not with Quality but the highflying Newswatch. Though, I was to get eased out of Newswatch, I guess the eight years I spent remain the most exciting in my career in journalism. I have seen a handful of newsrooms but Newswatch’s was unique!