Thirty seven years ago, on Sunday 19th October 1986, the Editor-in-chief of Newswatch magazine, Dele Giwa was k!lled in a parcel letter bomb in Lagos.
Today, almost four decades after,the question still begs for an Answer!
Who Killed Dele Giwa?
Born as Sumonu Oladele Giwa in Ife, southwest Nigeria, on 16 March 1947, he spent his early years in Ife and, in 1971, he relocated to the United States to continue his education.
He studied English at Brooklyn College and, after, earned a Master’s in Public Communication from Fordham University.
After university, Giwa worked for The New York Times. In 1979, he returned to Nigeria, where he joined The Daily Times. That same year, he published the article ‘Golden Fleece? – I Think I Got It!’. In it, he explained the factors that influenced his decision to study abroad before returning to Nigeria, stating:
…my life in America: no one single event qualifies as the most important. Everything is somehow connected. Leaving Ibadan, where I was a reporter, for the United States, I knew that in the other worlds I must learn to be a good journalist and, of course, must have good education. Thank God, all that I did. B.A in English, M.A in Public Communications, Four and half years with the New York Times. And now home I am coming to the Daily Times.
In 1980, Giwa joined The Sunday Concord. Four years later, with other journalists interested in pursuing a high standard of journalism in Nigeria, he founded Newswatch and became the magazine’s first editor-in-chief.
A celebrated journalist, Giwa had a successful and illustrious career. He distinguished himself from the outset through his unrelenting commitment to quality journalism and by possessing what many agree was ‘complete mastery of what it takes to be a good reporter.’
