LAGOS, Oct. 19, Reuter:‘ A leading Nigerian journalist was Killed today by parcel bomb delivered to his home by dispatch rider.
Dele Giwa, Editor in Chief of News watch Magazine, died in a LagosK hospital shortly after the explosion.
Colleagues at News watch, a ‘campaigning weekly which Giwa cofounded in 1985, said a dispatch rider delivered the parcel to his home in Ikeja, a suburb of the Nigerian capital
Givva’s son, Billy, 19, took it to his father who having breakfast in his study with News watch’s London correspondent, Kayode Soyinka, the magazine said in a statement.
“As he opened the parcel the bomb exploded, fatally wounding him and throwing Mr. Soyinka off his chair,” Newswatch said.
‘The magazine’s Deputy Chief Executive, Ray Ekpu, added, “I announce with the deepest regret the murder of this courageous Journalist, patriot and friend”.
Giwa, 39, was summoned to the headquarters of Nigeria’s State Security Service (SSS) on Friday, according to the statement issued by his colleagues.
‘They said he was interrogated by a senior officer and accused of plotting a socialist revolution and ‘of importing arms into Nigeria,
He denied the allegations and ‘was allowed to go home.
Newswatch, during its 16 months of publication, has earned a reputation for hard hitting reporting, with cover stories about corruption and other sensitive issues.
Giwa, who was trained as journalist in the United States, returned home in 1979 and worked on two national newspapers.
In 1983, he was detained for a week as editor of the Sunday Concord after it published what police said was classified material But a year later a high court ruled the detention unlawful and ‘ordered Nigeria’s police chief to pay Giwa compensation.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 24, 1986
